Chocolate consumption and its relation to risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background:  There is a substantial interest in the potential role of chocolate consumption and its association with the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to examine the association of consumption of chocolate with the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: A case control study was conducted at PSG Hospitals between 1 st June 2017 and 1 st July 2017. All those who had newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and attended Department of Endocrinology for follow-up visit were the cases and the relatives accompanying them without the history of diabetes were the controls. Chocolate consumption and other dietary factors were elicited. The mediating factors studied were age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI), educational levels, smoking status, alcohol consumption, family history of diabetes, potassium intake, magnesium intake and use of statins. Results:  After adjusting the potential confounders, chocolate consumption was inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes (p<0.05) with odds ratio of 0.564 (95% CI = 0.32 - 0.98). Conclusions:  Our findings suggest that moderate consumption of chocolates (preferably 1 to 2) per week has a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Potential applications of this knowledge include recommendations by health care professionals to encourage individuals to consume a wide range of phytochemical rich foods include chocolates in moderate amounts. The results from our study also suggest that adjusting for mediating factors did not alter the results and hence other unknown factors may explain inverse relation between chocolate consumption and type 2 diabetes mellitus.