Quote:A large new study suggests there might be good reason to indulge in chocolate this holiday season: It found that people who regularly ate chocolate had a lower likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes.


But the findings came with an important caveat. It was only dark chocolate that was associated with a lower risk of developing the disease, not milk chocolate. It’s not entirely clear why that is. But the researchers believe that dark chocolate offers greater metabolic benefits than milk chocolate because it contains less sugar and higher levels of plant compounds that have been shown in some studies to reduce inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity.

While many previous studies have examined the health effects of eating chocolate, the new study, which was published in the BMJ on Wednesday, is one of the few to specifically compare dark and milk chocolate. It’s also one of the largest studies on the topic to date.