Scientists may have just perfected a chocolate recipe that may aid dieters in losing weight, without having to give up one of the world's favourite sweet treats. According to new findings, the secret to great-tasting chocolate without the sugar is to add oat flour.

Published in the Journal of Food Science, Penn State researchers found 25 per cent reduced-sugar chocolates made with oat flour were rated either equal or better to regular chocolate by people doing a blind taste test. The findings provide hope for many who fail their diets due to craving chocolate.

Previously, low calorie 'full-fat' chocolate alternatives have often left those wanting to lose weight dissatisfied. Now, with the addition of oat flour and reduction in sugar, there is an alternative that rates high for taste and texture.

John Hayes, professor of food science at Penn State and an author of the study said: "We were able to show that there is a range in which you can manage a sizable reduction in added sugar and people won't notice and don't care, in terms of liking. We're never going to make chocolate healthy, because it's an indulgence.

"But we can successfully take out some of the sugar for consumers who are trying to reduce their intake of added sugars." Typically, chocolate is about half sugar by weight, so by removing sugar, consumers previously noticed texture changes. However, with the new recipe used in this Penn State study, many chocolate lovers have been won over.

Professor Gregory Ziegler, who worked on the study, said: "The function of sugar in chocolate is both sweetness and bulking, so if we take that sugar out, we have to put something else in that will do the job just as well, or consumers will notice." It was Ziegler's idea to test out new recipes, with oat flour and rice flour to see how they would impact consumer acceptance with a high percentage of sugar taken out.

Results suggested that while rice flour chocolate was not universally liked, chocolate with oat flour was and even rated higher than 'normal' chocolate in some cases. Kai Kai Ma, who worked on the study, said that: "Our results suggest we can cut back 25% of added sugar to chocolate, effectively reducing the total sugar by 13.5%, if we substitute with oat flour."

It's now hoped that chocolate manufacturers will take notice of the findings. Penn State is now reaching out to alumni who work for global confectionery giants.