Program tip The bluff with the chocolate diet

Journalists, together with experts, have faked a study on the weight-reducing effect of a chocolate diet and published it in a high-ranking manner. The press has taken these fake results worldwide. ARD and Arte show the documentation this week.

Chocolate is certainly not thin, but sometimes happy. (Image: Knut Wiarda)

Who would not welcome a chocolate diet that promises lasting weight loss? All the more joyful the news that the Institute of Diet and Health in Mainz could prove just that in a study.

For this purpose, the researchers divided the test persons into three groups: two groups committed themselves to a strict diet, one group additionally consumed exactly 42 grams of chocolate with a high (81 percent) cocoa content per day. A control group did not change the diet. The result: The "chocolate group" lost 10% more weight than the comparison group.

The study results were published in the London science magazine "International Archives of Medicine".

The whole thing had a catch: the study results were manipulated. Nevertheless, the message spread worldwide in all media. Now the two responsible TV journalists report on their project.

Broadcast: "Slender with chocolate - a scientific lie goes around the world", Friday, June 5, 9:50 pm Arte / Sunday, June 7, 3:30 pm ZDF. (Pm)