Could Chocolate Reduce Preeclampsia Risk?

Could Chocolate Reduce Preeclampsia Risk?

Do you love chocolate? Well, who doesn’t! Chocolates are delicious and most of us have a craving for them everyday. Some are even addicted to chocolates and want to eat chocolates every day!  Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here

However, during pregnancy you may not eat chocolate for the fear of harming your baby or you may reduce the intake. However, here is a brand new research that might give you an amazing reason of consuming chocolate during pregnancy!

Chocolate during pregnancy

Researchers have found that eating chocolate could reduce the chances of developing the dangerous preeclampsia problem during pregnancy. Until now it was said that you must eat only limited chocolate during pregnancy.

Nibbling on chocolate now gives you an amazing advantage and thus, you don’t have to worry! Of course you should watch how much you eat but eating some chocolate regularly is likely to help you.

What is preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication that is usually detected during the second trimester. It can be identified through hypertension during pregnancy. This complication can get very severe and endanger the life of your unborn baby. That is why it is ideal to try and reduce the risks of developing preeclampsia as much as possible.

Theobromine

The research has proved that those who eat chocolate on a regular basis during pregnancy have lower chances of developing this pregnancy complication. You may have hot chocolate or you may eat chocolate bars but if you consume chocolate around thrice a week or more, the chances of reducing the risks of preeclampsia are fifty percent and that is a very significant number!

Why chocolate helps against the development of preeclampsia is still under research but many researchers have pointed towards the chemical named theobromine that is present in cocoa. This is a very bitter chemical but it is apparently very helpful in that it regulates your blood pressure efficiently. It does so by aiding the dilation of your blood vessels.

Dark chocolate or any?

Are you finding it too hard to believe it? Well, you are not the only one. Even researchers are not really sure about all this because talking to women about everything they ate during pregnancy generally does not give accurate answers. Also, one glitch is that the researchers couldn’t tell whether the benefits are because of dark chocolate specifically or any chocolate for that matter.

Flavanols

While dark chocolate supposedly has more benefits, milk chocolate or white chocolate does not have any health benefits. This is because milk chocolates usually have more amounts of sugar in them and flavanols, which are disease fighting chemicals, are present in less quantities in these chocolates. Thus, nothing is very clear yet.

Conclusion

While this research is fascinating, getting affirmative is tough. You can’t really say for sure whether chocolate will do you any good. Thus, until further research is carried out and results come out, you should concentrate on eating dark chocolate during pregnancy instead of white chocolate. Also, ensure that you don’t eat too much. Too much of anything is too bad and pregnancy is not the time for you to experiment with what you eat!

ConceiveEasy TTC Kit + 20 FREE Pregnancy Tests

Maureen Stephens, BS, RN
Maureen Stephens, BS, RN | ConceiveEasy
Ms. Stephens has spent over twenty years in the healthcare world, specializing in obstretical and medical/surgical nursing. She joined ConceiveEasy as she has a strong interest in educating and empowering women and promoting fertility awareness.

Comments