This article looks at the effects of skipping (jump rope) and chocolate in obese boys
What’s the deal?
Obesity and especially childhood obesity are on the rise, leading to dangerous complications in later life. Exercise is a known cure, but can eating chocolate help too?
What did they do?
24 obese teenage boys completed a skipping (jump rope)-based exercise plan, 3 times per week for 6 weeks. In addition, half of the boys ate dark chocolate every day (30g; 83% cocoa) and the other half ate white chocolate (30g; 0% cocoa). There was also another group of 12 who ate dark chocolate but did no skipping and a control group of 12 who did nothing at all.
What happened?
Doing skipping led to weight loss, as expected, with more weight loss seen in the dark chocolate group (2.8kg / 6.2lbs on average) compared to the white chocolate group (1.2kg / 2.6lbs on average). Eating dark chocolate without skipping also led to weight loss, but only minor (0.5kg 1.1lbs on average).
What can you tell me about the people?
Participants were teenage boys, aged between 13 and 17 and with a sedentary lifestyle. The average BMI at the start of the study was 31-33, putting them in the obese category.
What else should I know?
The skipping exercise was initially 20 sets of 60 seconds, with a 30-second rest between each set. This gradually increased each week, up to 7 sets of 4 minutes in week 6. Dark chocolate contains polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties and have healthy anti-inflammatory effects. They also increase blood levels of adiponectin, a type of hormone. If your levels of adiponectin are high, then you are less likely to be obese.
What will I do differently?
I recently bought a skipping rope because I saw some cool videos on Instagram and wanted to try! Skipping seemed so easy and effortless when I was a kid, but it feels so difficult now. I’ll stick with it though. I’m not a fan of dark chocolate, especially 83%, but maybe I’ll try to introduce a milder version (maybe 50%) into my diet and go from there.
Acknowledgements
This research was published in September 2020 by M Eskandari and colleagues from the University of Birjand, Iran.
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