Recent Harvard University study finds dark chocolate could reduce diabetes risk by 21 per cent. What does this mean for diabetic Canadians?
The Canadian healthcare system is facing a diabetes crisis. Not only has type-2 diabetes (T2D) doubled over the last decade but one in 10 Canadians are currently diagnosed with the condition. Moreover, one in three Canadians have either diabetes or pre-diabetes.
This crisis could be catastrophic for benefits plan costs. Marie-Chantal Côté, senior vice-president of group benefits at Sun Life, highlights while there’s roughly 4 million Canadians living with diabetes, that number is likely to increase to 5 million over the next decade.
"The number of people claiming for drugs tied into diabetes has grown significantly over the past five years, where now it's the second highest drug spend and the fastest growing one,” says Côté.
It makes sense, then, that organizations are starting to play close attention to the prevention of diabetes. A recent survey conducted by Harvard looked to the benefits of consuming dark chocolate, which found participants who ate at least five servings of this chocolate per week showed a 21 per cent lower risk of T2D.
The study also found that participants who consumed at least five ounces of any type of chocolate per week had a 10 per cent lower risk of T2D compared to those who never or rarely consumed chocolate. Dark chocolate had an even bigger impact. Meanwhile, increased consumption of milk chocolate, but not dark chocolate, was associated with long-term weight gain, a potential contributor to the development of T2D.
These findings have sparked interest in whether this sweet treat could be a valuable tool in the fight against diabetes. This begs the question for employers as to whether they should be offering their employees dark chocolate at work as part of a healthy workplace. Lisa Spriet, a registered dietitian and co-founder of NutriProCan, offers a disappointing response for those with a sweet tooth, cautioning employers to not put too much stock in this research. “I love dark chocolate, but I think your money is better spent elsewhere,” she says.
Spriet notes that while the study did show a modest protective effect from dark chocolate consumption, the research was observational, not a controlled clinical trial. "Typically, when people are eating dark chocolate, they're doing so as part of a health halo. They're like, ‘I'm trying to lower my sugar. I'm trying to do these other things so I'm going to eat dark chocolate’, versus just saying, ‘I like the taste of this better,’" Spriet says.
Consequently, this makes it difficult to determine if the benefits are truly from the dark chocolate itself or other lifestyle factors. That said, Spriet does acknowledge the cocoa bean may provide some ancillary health advantages, highlighting there’s already some evidence that it has cardio protective benefits, potentially helping to reduce blood pressure.
Courtesy of Sun Life
“It does have a high antioxidant rating so anything with a high antioxidant rating can be cardio protective for many reasons, like the antioxidant effect. That can be protective for your brain as well, helping to prevent things like Alzheimer's or dementia,” explains Spriet. “It’s not my number one thing but if somebody’s eating chocolate, I’ll try to switch them towards dark chocolate. We usually say to have at least 70 per cent cocoa solids to see any sort of benefit.”
Despite dark chocolate not having any significant benefits in the battle for diabetes care, Spriet recommends that employers focus their efforts and resources on more proven methods of diabetes prevention. "Employers should really be thinking upstream. With the dollars that it takes to prevent diabetes versus treating it is way less so think upstream and think about, ‘How do we prevent this from happening in the first place?’"
She points to workplace activities that promote physical activity, healthy eating, and other lifestyle interventions that can help employees maintain a healthy weight and blood sugar levels and in turn, increase productivity along with the employers’ bottom-line. Spriet also suggests that employers consider offering flexible work arrangements, healthy snack options, and other workplace wellness initiatives to support their team's overall wellbeing, like offering gym memberships as part of their benefits plans.
While she notes there’s been some promising research done from a bottom-line perspective, she says it ultimately depends on the buy in and how employers can organize it. “If you want to increase productivity, we know that movement and physical activity, getting out of the office, even going for a walk, increases productivity, and decreases the risk of diabetes. They're going to see that initial benefit of increased productivity, but also that long term benefit with reducing chronic disease,” Spriet says.
For the time being, plan sponsors will need to manage the current and certainly rising costs for diabetes medications and GLP-1 drugs. But Spriet asserts the importance of thinking upstream, investing in preventions in the first place.
“I just think sponsors are going to see a huge benefit. Not right away, but certainly down the road.”
Courtesy of Sun Life
