Well, the good news is that chocolate may actually help you to stay thin even if you don’t diet.

What scientists are learning is that all calories are not created equal and our bodies don’t treat them equally.

Some foods contain substances which may actually helps us keep off the pounds.

“When people talk about the health benefits of chocolate,” says food scientist Joshua Lambert of Penn State University, “they typically talk about compounds called polyphenols.”

When he investigated some specific polyphenols found in cocoa, he found that they potently inhibit an enzyme, called pancreatic lipase, that’s responsible for digesting dietary fat.

This means that the fat in chocolate may exit our bodies before it has a chance to be absorbed. Or, in other words, these compounds in cocoa may help us fend off fat.