As if we needed an excuse!

[Cricket]

Chocolate may reduce pregnancy complication risk
Reuters
Published: Monday, April 28, 2008


Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is rich in a chemical called theobromine, which stimulates the heart, relaxes smooth muscle and dilates blood vessels, and has been used to treat chest pain, high blood pressure, and hardening of the arteries, Dr. Elizabeth W. Triche of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and colleagues write.

Preeclampsia, in which blood pressure spikes during pregnancy while excess protein is released into the urine, has many features in common with heart disease, the researchers add.

To investigate whether chocolate's possible cardiovascular benefits also might help prevent preeclampsia, the researchers looked at 2,291 women who delivered a single infant, and asked them about how much chocolate they consumed in their first and third trimesters. The researchers also tested levels of theobromine in infants' umbilical cord blood.

Women who consumed the most chocolate and those whose infants had the highest concentration of theobromine in their cord blood were the least likely to develop preeclampsia. Women in the highest quarter for cord blood theobromine were 69% less likely to develop the complication than those in the lowest quarter.

Women who ate five or more servings of chocolate each week in their third trimester of pregnancy were 40% less likely to develop preeclampsia than those who ate chocolate less than once a week.

A similar, but weaker, relationship between chocolate consumption and preeclampsia risk was seen in the first trimester, with women eating five or more servings of chocolate each week at 19% lower risk than those who ate chocolate less than once a week.

Theobromine could improve circulation within the placenta while blocking oxidative stress, or it could also be a stand-in for other beneficial chemicals found in chocolate, Triche and her team note in the May issue of Epidemiology.

"Our results raise the possibility that chocolate consumption by pregnant women may reduce the occurrence of preeclampsia," they write. "Because of the importance of preeclampsia as a major complication of pregnancy, replication of these results in other large prospective studies with a detailed assessment of chocolate consumption is warranted."

? Thomson Reuters 2008

[Indadhanu]

hehehe! Ok so because I've eaten about 10 serves of (mostly dark) chocolate a week for the whole pregnancy I should be right then

[MummyDuck]

I was so excited when I heard this on the Morning Show this morning......

Did you also know that it has been studied that a pregnant woman who eats a piece of chocolate every day has a generally happier baby who cries less (for no reason) then a baby whose mother did not eat chocolate at all.

In saying that - I might go have me a kit kat - do they do them in dark chocolate mmmmmmmm

[feeb]

Woo Hoo ace now i can eat even more!!!! (problem is i am not a fan of dark)

[Indadhanu]

feeb... you'll just have to eat twice as much milk chocolate to get all the goodness!!!!!!!!!!!

[feeb]

Great idea leasha0986!!!!!!!!!

mmmh chocolate YUMMMO

[tan32]

perfect timing i was just raiding the kids easter egg stash.
They have so many lol

[Laranna]

I've been eating chocolate every day during this pregnancy and now I have a good reason not to stop now
mmmm....twix....
*drool*

[2girlz]

:woot:I knew I was on to a good thing, I eat chocolate everyday to stop my morning sickness

[AnnaBelle]

Do you think Cherry Ripes count ???
They are coated in dark chocolate!!!

[belfie]

Hahah I love it! What an awesome post!

[Beach Mama]

I knew there was a reason that Izzy is such a contented baby and this little one is sure to be the same at the rate I consume chocolate!!!! :