As If I Needed an Excuse to Indulge...

I saw this article in a Baby Center newsletter update, and I just HAD to laugh. As if I needed an excuse to indulge in chocolate!!!

It's an article released by Reuters last Monday titled:

"Chocolate may ward off pregnancy complication"

Oh yeah. Here are a few key excerpts:

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.

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 preeclampsia. Women in the highest quarter for cord blood theobromine were 69 percent less likely to develop the complication than those in the lowest quarter.

Women who ate five or more servings of chocolate each week in their third trimester of pregnancy were 40 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia than those who ate chocolate less than once a week.

As ashamed as I should be to admit it, I'm pretty sure I qualify as a woman who ate 5 or more servings of chocolate each week in my third trimester. And I have been remarkably healthy with no signs whatsoever of preeclampsia... So bring on the chocolate!!! :)