Study looks at impact of two kinds of chocolate on type 2 diabetes risk

(CNN) – Eating at least five tiny servings of dark chocolate each week may lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 21%, according to a new observational study. In fact, as dark chocolate consumption increased from none to five servings, so did the benefits, the study found.Before you start scarfing down an entire chocolate bar, however, be aware that a serving is 1 ounce, and it must be dark chocolate to do the trick – milk chocolate lovers are out of luck. The study found eating milk chocolate was linked to excessive weight gain over time, a key contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes.Related Stories “Dark and milk chocolate have similar levels of added sugar, fat and calories, but the most important difference is that dark chocolate contains more cacao,” said lead author Binkai Liu, a doctoral student in the nutrition department of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Cacao is the raw and less-processed form of chocolate harvested from the Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao contains the highest levels of flavanols, so the greater the percentage of cacao listed on the label of the dark chocolate bar, the more flavanols it will contain. Flavanols act as...