Eating chocolate during pregnancy benefits your baby

Great news mummy! Eating 30 g of chocolate every day during pregnancy may benefit fetal growth and development.

This is the conclusion of a new study presented at the 2016 Pregnancy Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Atlanta.

Previous studies have also suggested that moderate chocolate consumption during pregnancy may lower the risk of preeclampsia – where the blood supply to the fetus is reduced due to the mother’s high blood pressure.

However, Dr. Emmanuel Bujold, of the Université Laval Québec City, Canada, notes that the results of research assessing the link between chocolate intake during pregnancy and preeclampsia have been conflicting, spurring him and his colleagues to find out more.

The researchers enrolled 129 expectant mothers with a singleton pregnancy who were between 11-14 weeks’ gestation.

The expectant mothers were randomised to consume 30 g of either low- or high-flavanol chocolate daily for 12 weeks.

The team found that there were no differences in preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, placental weight and birthweight between the low- and high-flavanol chocolate groups.

However, during a uterine artery Doppler pulsatility index, which is a test that measures uterine, placental and fetal blood flow, the researchers identified a significant improvement among both chocolate groups, suggesting that both low- and high-flavonol chocolate may benefit fetal growth and development.

This improvement was much greater than what is normally expected among the general population, the team notes.

“This study indicates that chocolate could have a positive impact on placenta and fetal growth and development and that chocolate’s effects are not solely and directly due to flavanol content,” says Dr. Bujold.

So we repeat – GREAT news mummy. Go grab yourself a treat.

Share your comments below.

Image Getty stock photo

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.

16 Comments

- - mom134803 said
  - 19 Jun 2016
    3:39 am
I sure believe in the benefits of chocolate…RAW chocolate that is ! the bean, or nib of the bean, in its natural state – not cooked, over-processed or mixed with a vat of cheap filler ingredients. It’s also known as cacao and is being fused with coconut butter and sometimes a bit of yacon- or coconut syrup, as well as berries and nuts, to create confectionary. No vegetable fat, milk or sugar goes near it and, importantly, it isn’t heated above 42C, the point at which nutrients start to die.
It’s a pity that people are so easily deceived and think that chocolate you buy in the supermarket is beneficial for your health.

- - june11 said
  - 10 May 2016
    10:44 pm
It is probably very helpful in that way. I just hope the expectant mums clean their teeth afterwards. They don’t want to have to go to the dentist while they are pregnant.

- - rachelvk said
  - 10 May 2016
    8:03 pm
I heard about this during my recent pregnancy and made the most of it!

- - sharna_booth_weinrowski said
  - 10 May 2016
    1:56 pm
sounds great to me! Yummy!

- - mom113991 said
  - 10 May 2016
    8:12 am
I ate chocolate in both my pregnancies. Thanks for a great article!

- - mom81879 said
  - 10 May 2016
    8:05 am
Isn’t it only dark chocolate that has the health benefits? Which wouldn’t help be because I don’t enjoy dark chocolate if it was a block of Cadbury fruit n nut…..:)

- - mum4107 said
  - 10 May 2016
    5:11 am
Wish I knew that when I was pregnant lol

- - mom111362 said
  - 10 May 2016
    12:57 am
woo hoo! I’m a chocaholic. what about after pregnancy though lol

- - Nas01 said
  - 09 May 2016
    11:51 pm
Great research…I had plenty of chocolate during my four pregnancies and they were all great (I say that now, but not when 9months preggers).

- - youngoldlady said
  - 09 May 2016
    10:30 pm
That is good news for mums to be everywhere. Chocolate never hurt me when pregnant and all six of my children were ok. I ate a lot of M&M’s with number three, peanut ones.

- - pakeko said
  - 09 May 2016
    7:36 pm
This sounds like good news for all mums and babies.

- - BellaB said
  - 09 May 2016
    4:46 pm
If I was pregnant, I’d DEFINITELY be trying this – just in case, of course!

- - mom165081 said
  - 09 May 2016
    4:46 pm
Amazing! Never heard of this before – but sounds good for both mum and bub!

- - Lizbef said
  - 09 May 2016
    3:51 pm
If just 30 grams of chocolate can do that imagine what a whole block could do!

- - mom90758 said
  - 09 May 2016
    3:16 pm
Oh! It would have been nice to know when I was pregnant! I don’t remember regularly eating chocolate back then. But now I do!