Study

Eating Chocolate Loses Weight?

a. In this experiment, a group of people were instructed to eat chocolate and monitor their BMI and weight as well as other factors while on a low-carb diet. Another group was instructed to continue eating the low-carb diet, but without chocolate. For the study design, selection for the study was randomized, as well as the groups the participants were in. At the beginning and end of the study, a blood test was conducted, as well as weight, BMI, and waist-to-hip ratio. Looking at the results of the experiment, participants in the chocolate group lost 3.2 percent of their body weight, as opposed to 3.1 percent in the low-carb group without chocolate. The study also included measuring lipid, liver, and cholestrol values, which had significant positive results. However, the positives outweigh the negatives. Yet, the sample size from the low-carb diet and the chocolate diet was only 9 people in total, with 5 from the chocolate diet and 4 from the low-carb diet. Furthermore, the study recorded values that were different than weight loss. Finally, a 0.1% loss in weight is not enough to definitively prove weight loss.

b. I don’t trust their research, because there were too few people involved with the experiment, so it wouldn’t be an accurate representation of the entire population. Similarily, there were too many factors and the weight loss was negligible.

c. The idea of “publish or perish” plays a major role in this experiment, as they might have felt coerced to publish for monetary gain or for recogization, as it would be remarkable that chocolate could lose weight if it was true.