Solomon W. Golomb. 2011 National Medal of Science to Solomon, W. Golomb, University of Southern California.

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This week Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, a medical researcher at the University of California San Diego, lends her support to this theory.

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Dr. Golomb said the weight difference among more frequent chocolate eaters was modest but interesting given that more calories and saturated fat were consumed.

WSJ: A Chocolate a Day to Get Slimmer?

Dr Golomb says that many studies have found that exposure to AChEis is linked to the kind of chronic symptoms that the sick veterans report.

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To see if chocolate really does have a positive impact on weight, Dr. Golomb says, a study specifically designed to compare chocolate eaters to non-chocolate eaters needs to be conducted.

WSJ: A Chocolate a Day to Get Slimmer?

Dr Golomb and her team believe that antioxidant compounds, called catechins, can improve lean muscle mass and reduce weight - at least studies in rodents would suggest this might be so.

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"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, " says Dr. Golomb.

WSJ: A Chocolate a Day to Get Slimmer?

"It's my favorite vegetable, " Dr. Golomb says.

WSJ: A Chocolate a Day to Get Slimmer?

Rather, the findings suggest that the health benefits of chocolate may be linked to how many times in a given week chocolate is eaten rather than the total amount consumed in that week, says the study's lead researcher, Beatrice Golomb, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

WSJ: A Chocolate a Day to Get Slimmer?