Moderation is the key to any healthy diet, but new research published in the March edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that considerable amounts of chocolate may be the key to staying thin and maintaining healthy body functioning.

Comparing two groups of healthy people, both of whom exercised regularly (3.5 times per week) and ate a balanced diet, researchers found the group who consumed chocolate more frequently maintained a healthier body mass index (BMI). In other words, keeping all else the same, chocolate eaters were thinner.

Of course this doesn’t mean eating chocolate will make you healthier, it just suggests that among already healthy people, people who eat balanced diets and get exercise, chocolate seems to enhance their body functions. I did not have access to the entire study so I cannot share the particulars, but if you have a resolution to get in shape, chocolate may not be something you need to cut out.

What I will tell you as a general warning, eating a lot of anything won’t make you thinner regardless of how healthy it may be. If you eat an entire bag of potato chips and wash it down with some carrots and fruit juice, you’ll still end up overweight from consuming more calories than you need to maintain healthy functioning.

As I started the story with, moderation is the key to a balanced diet. In this case, I am just pointing out the fact that chocolate may have some health benefits that we have yet to fully realize.

Here’s what folks on Twitter had to say about the news on Chocolate: