Chocolates may Help you Stay Slim

London: People regularly eating chocolate tend to be thin, suggests a new study.

The findings have been made from a study of nearly 1,000 people in the US that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) -- a measure of obesity, the BBC reported Tuesday.

Scientists believe even though chocolate is loaded with calories, it contains ingredients that may favour weight loss rather than fat synthesis.

The study found that people eating chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than those who ate it occasionally.

Despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption was related to lower BMI in the study, which is published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The link remained even when other factors, like how much exercise individuals did, were taken into account.

It appears it is how often you eat chocolate that is important, rather than how much of it you eat. The study found no link with quantity consumed.

"Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight," said lead author Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California in San Diego.