London: Having a burning desire to eat chocolate yet you are compelled to suppress it because of your low-carb diet requirement. Well, ladies you are doing more harm than good -- just go for it to stay slim.

Yes, researchers in Britain have carried out a study and found that suppressing the desire to have a chocolatey treat leads to a "rebound" effect in which a woman simply eats more when she gives in, The Daily Telegraph reported today. "The act of avoidance appears to completely backfire. The most harmful thing you can do is to tell people not to think about eating chocolate. We have to tackle behaviour itself by giving women alternatives instead of making them abstain," according to lead researcher James Erskine.

In fact, Erskine and his team at the University of Hertfordshire came to the conclusion after studying 130 volunteers who were asked to eat chocolate after being told either to suppress or to express their thoughts about chocolate by talking aloud. The researchers found that women who were asked to suppress their thoughts about chocolate consumed 50 per cent more when offered it, compared with women who were told to express their feelings about chocolate.

Though women who tried to suppress their feelings about chocolate showed a clear rebound effect, men who took part in the study were found to be less prone to the effect, instead eating more when told to express their feelings. "The rebound effect seems to be most prevalent when people are trying to suppress something that they see as problematic. It could just be that women see eating chocolate as more problematic than men do. We now need to find new ways to help women change their behaviour rather than just telling them not to eat things," Erskine was quoted as saying.

Source : PTI