Chocolate is good for you

If you're a pregnant woman, anyway.

LONDON (Reuters) - Pregnant women rejoice. Eating chocolate is good for the baby, say Finnish researchers.

Scientists at the University of Helsinki, who asked 300 pregnant women to record their chocolate consumption and stress levels, found that daily treats had a positive impact on the newborn baby's behavior.

Six months after the infants were born the mothers who had eaten chocolate reported more smiling and laughter in their offspring.

"And the babies of stressed women who had regularly consumed chocolate showed less fear of new situations than babies of stressed women who had abstained," New Scientist magazine said Tuesday.

Katri Raikkanen and colleagues who conducted the research admitted they can't be certain that chocolate consumption and the babies' behavior are not linked with other factors.

"But they speculate that the effects they observed could result from chemicals in chocolate associated with a positive mood being passed on to the baby in the womb," the magazine added.

You've never seen such happiness as when Tiffany read this article. All she needs now is for them to do a followup study which shows that high-quality dark chocolate like Leonidas or Lindt has even more benefit.

Via Hope.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 09, 2004 to Food, glorious food | TrackBack