Washington, April 3 (IANS): Amid various health benefit studies on chocolate that inspire you to munch another one, research reveals that a key ingredient in chocolate might help lose weight and lower type-2 diabetes risk.

The researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University added the flavanol named oligomeric procyanidins (PCs) found in cocoa - the basic ingredient of chocolate - in the food for mice.

They found that it made a huge difference in keeping the mice's weight down if they were on high-fat diets.

This compound also improved glucose tolerance which could potentially help prevent type-2 diabetes.

People know that cocoa has the potential to boost heart health, lower blood sugar and decrease body fat.

“Now we know that a particular flavanol can also help you fight obesity and type-2 diabetes,” said lead author Andrew P. Neilson.

The scientists fed groups of mice different diets, including high-fat and low-fat diets, and high-fat diets supplemented with different kinds of flavanols.

“Oligomeric PCs appear to possess the greatest anti-obesity and anti-diabetic bioactivities of the flavanols in cocoa, particularly at the low doses employed for the present study,” the researchers noted.

The study was appeared in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.