The chocolate to which extra virgin olive oil is added does not cause significant increases in blood sugar according to a study by the Sapienza University of Rome
Extra virgin olive oil is probably one of the most valuable products in the Mediterranean area. It’s good and it’s good, now the walls know it too. But that could also be useful for diabetic patients is a novelty. This is what emerges from a study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition and conducted by a team of researchers from Sapienza University of Rome, coordinated by Professor Francesco Violi, director of the first medical clinic at Sapienza.
In essence it has been shown that extra virgin olive oil can also allow diabetic patients to consume chocolate. Yes, you got it right: chocolate and diabetes may not be in contrast. We are not talking about chocolate without sugars, which often cannot be properly defined as a delicacy … And just think, some products of this type already exist on the market: a chocolate with extra virgin olive oil is produced for example by Evo del Borgo or by the Frantoio Berti.
The study showed that by adding extra virgin olive oil to chocolate, the glycaemia of diabetic patients (type 2 diabetes mellitus) does not increase or does so in a negligible quantity. “The nature of the message that our study launches is mainly social,” stresses Francesco Violi. “Chocolate is a vasodilator and – if done in this way – it can be consumed not only by diabetics, but also by all those who have even a familiarity for type two diabetes.”
A problem that affects a growing number of people; it is estimated that in the period between 2000 and 2030 the number of patients should double compared to the previous one. The consequences of this condition are quite known and cover different sectors; for example the cardiovascular one: the prolonged hyperglycemia exposes to atherosclerosis (a pathology that makes the walls of blood vessels less elastic, to simplify) and to a greater risk of ischemia . And chocolate, both black and gianduia, contains many polyphenols and antioxidants that can produce benefits for cardiovascular protection.
To avoid such risks, the magic word in nutrition is always the same: moderation . “The problem is always quantity. We should avoid eating too many carbohydrates like pasta and bread and in general all foods with too much sugar. As far as blood sugar is concerned, we know that cocoa and olive oil facilitate insulin secretion »concludes Violi. And insulin is precisely that hormone that allows us to dispose of and regulate sugars around our body.
If this hormone does not work as it should and the level of glucose – that is, glucose, that is to say sugars – in the blood reaches very high thresholds, around 2.5-3 grams, the typical symptoms of pathological hyperglycemia begin to be felt: yes he is hungry and thirsty even though we have eaten recently and the situation can worsen to the extreme point of the coma.
Thanks to this discovery, however, the reasons for depriving oneself of chocolate are less and less; in the gallery, instead, we have collected all those for which it is good for us.
