Chocolate may reduce pregnancy complication risk

[Mugu]

Reuters via Yahoo

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Indulging in chocolate during pregnancy could help ward off a serious complication known as preeclampsia, new research suggests.

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.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080428/hl_nm/chocolate_pregnancy_dc;_ylt=ApHHt3sZD1YXbfGKfs0HzWCs0NUE">Complete article

[midnight]

1. This proves God is a women.....

[librechik]

2. may I be the first to say Hallelujah!

now where are those truffles?

(not, sigh--I'm stuck with the fat-free kind)

[juajen]

3. Honey, I believe cocoa butter is the new penicillin! Honest.

I feel so much better when I have my chocolate bar, and I have everything wrong with me, including diabetes. I still have a hershey's chocolate bar with almonds (which are also very good for me) every night. I am a better person for it, and I will not give it up.

[librechik]

6. I can have an extra dark square

I love girardelli or tobler--but I'm being extra good nowadays so i can reach a goal..

[xfm]

4. Excellent News...

I love rich, dark chocolate.

[BlueIris]

5. Huh.

That's interesting.