![\"Yummy](\"https:\/\/blueheronhealthnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Dark-chocolate-409772926.jpg\")
Most diet recommendations for managing modern diseases force you to eat food that you probably don\u2019t like so much, right?<\/p>\nMost diet recommendations for managing modern diseases force you to eat food that you probably don\u2019t like so much, right?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why a new study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry<\/em> should make you happy, because it proves that consuming a specific yummy treat cuts down on fat in the liver and therefore reverses NAFLD.<\/p>\n And we\u2019re not talking about a small cut in liver fat\u2014consuming this treat daily can slash 22% of your liver fat.<\/p>\n Dark chocolate has been scientifically proven to benefit people with diabetes, heart disease, and those who are at risk of developing serious obesity-related conditions. Researchers believe that this results from the polyphenols found in cocoa.<\/p>\n Since nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is usually obesity-related, or at least results from consuming lots of fat, a group of researchers from Pennsylvania State University decided to investigate whether cocoa could ameliorate NAFLD.<\/p>\n They did not want to conduct the study on humans, because a study in which people are deliberately fed a very high-fat diet would be prohibited on ethical grounds.<\/p>\n Therefore, they performed the study on obese mice on a high-fat diet, with the mice divided into a group that received cocoa supplementation and another group that did not.<\/p>\n The cocoa group received 80 milligrams per gram of body weight of cocoa powder for 10 weeks, after which the researchers examined their livers for damage and collected a range of other health indicators.<\/p>\n Compared with the mice on the high-fat diet that did not receive cocoa, the cocoa group exhibited:<\/p>\n 1. 75% less damage to DNA in mitochondria (the parts of cells that produce energy).<\/p>\n 2. 57% fewer lipid peroxides (fats that are damaged and made harmful by oxidation).<\/p>\n 3. 28% fewer hepatic triacylglycerols (densely packed fats stored in the liver).<\/p>\n 4. 22% less body weight gain.<\/p>\n They also found that the enzymes responsible for digesting fats and carbohydrates were inhibited in the cocoa group, a possible explanation for the healthier fat and body weight profiles.<\/p>\n If fats and carbohydrates are not digested, they pass straight through the digestive system and are excreted instead of stored, yielding livers without tons of fat storage.<\/p>\n