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INDULGING in chocolate during pregnancy could help ward off a
complication known as pre-eclampsia.
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, Yale
University researcher Dr Elizabeth Triche and her colleagues
say.
Pre-eclampsia, in which blood pressure spikes during pregnancy
while excess protein is released into the urine, has much in common
with heart disease, the researchers say.
To investigate whether chocolate's possible cardiovascular
benefits also might help prevent pre-eclampsia, the researchers
studied 2291 women who each delivered a single child. They also
tested levels of theobromine in the 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 pre-eclampsia. Women in the
highest quarter for cord blood theobromine were 69% less likely to
develop the complication than those in the lowest quarter, Dr
Triche and her team note in the May issue of
Epidemiology.
