Pregnant? Eat Chocolate.

Women who are pregnant have to worry about everything they put in their mouths because they are literally eating for two. They worry about fish because of mercury. They worry about blue cheese or feta on their salads because soft cheeses can carry bacteria. They no longer have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. So with all these worries and "no can do" it is exciting for women to hear a big resounding "YES" to chocolate. Chocolate seems to protect a pregnant woman from preeclampsia, a serious but common complication where high blood pressure and high levels of protein in the urine are symptoms. It can be very dangerous, even deadly, for the mom and baby. Okay I know there are some doubters so where does the evidence come from to prove this good news? Elizabeth Triche of Yale University and her colleagues studied 2,291 pregnant women who gave birth between 1996 and 2000. They asked these moms-to-be about their chocolate consumption during their first and second trimesters and then tested the blood from their umbilical cords for theobromine which is a component of chocolate. Women who ate the most chocolate about a candy bar a day were 70% less likely to develop preeclampsia than those who ate the least. The study results can be found in a search of articles at www.epidem.com/pt/re/epidemiology.