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Let?s be honest: nobody expects sweet treats to help with weight loss. But what if your morning chocolate fix could actually trim your waistline? According to a study published in the FASEB Journal, having milk chocolate at breakfast might surprisingly promote weight loss and even reduce belly fat. If that doesn?t make you want to hit the snooze button with a bonbon in hand, we don?t know what will!

Wait, Chocolate for Breakfast?

Let?s get something straight: chocolate, especially the milk kind, typically gets a bad rap. The moment you mention it to a nutritionist, they?ll point to its fat, sugar, and calorie content. In the introduction to their publication, the scientists themselves highlight that this type of chocolate is known to

?contribute to weight gain due to its high fat, sugar, and calorie content.?

However, these researchers decided to challenge that very reputation?and they found quite a surprise.

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Examining the Sweet Science

Most previous research has zoomed in on dark chocolate. But, as the team points out,

?none of [these studies] had considered the time of day when the chocolate was eaten.?

They emphasize that

?meal timing is an important factor in weight control.?

So this time, they turned their attention to milk chocolate?the base for all the guilty pleasures you?ll find in any corner store checkout aisle?and set up a unique experiment.

Here?s how it went:

19 post-menopausal women participated in the study. According to the scientists, this group is particularly likely to gain weight due to natural physiological changes.
The participants were split into two groups. One group ate 100 grams of milk chocolate (that?s about 3.5 ounces, or roughly a standard Hershey?s bar and a half) within an hour after waking up. The other group ate the same amount within the hour before going to bed.
The following weeks served as a break from chocolate?no cheating!

To keep things healthy by scientific standards, both groups followed a Mediterranean diet enriched with foods high in polyphenols?those nifty plant compounds that help protect plants (and maybe us) from harm. Think strawberries, broccoli, and other vibrantly colored eats.

Chocolate, Calories, and Waistlines

You might be slack-jawed at this next part. Eating all that chocolate was an extra 542 calories per day. And yet, the scientists observed:

?However, despite these extra calories from the chocolate, there was no significant weight gain.?

Even more astonishing, they noted:

?Interestingly, the waist circumference of women who consumed milk chocolate in the morning decreased?

?by about 1.7%.

Satisfying the Sweet Tooth?and Reducing Hunger

It gets better for chocolate lovers. Morning milk chocolate consumption didn?t just taste good: it also lessened hunger pangs and curbed the urge for sweets?so much so that the women naturally ate 442 fewer calories per day on average.

The researchers sum it up by saying:

?Eating chocolate in the morning or in the evening can affect energy balance and body weight differently.?

They note that

?not only what we eat, but also when we eat it can affect obesity and weight loss.?

As for the big picture:

?Eating at the ?wrong? time could be a key factor [?] impacting energy metabolism, body fat, and the risk of obesity.?

The Catch: Chocolate in Moderation

Of course, before you start hiding milk chocolate under your pillow (or in your cereal), a word of caution. Milk chocolate still contains a considerable amount of sugar. And, as countless studies have demonstrated, high sugar intake is associated not only with diabetes and obesity but many other serious health problems.

So yes, maybe there?s a good time to enjoy that chocolatey breakfast?but moderation, as always, is the not-so-sweet secret to success.