According to a Yale study, women who eat chocolate are at decreased risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy.

The conclusions and observations are reported in the current issue of the journal Epidemiology.

Elizabeth Triche headed a team at the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology who wanted to see if chocolate, particularly dark chocolate which had been previously linked to improved cardiovascular health, might also offer protection against preeclampsia for pregnant mothers. Preeclampsia is a disorder that includes dangerously high blood pressure and high protein in the urine. Pregnant women who suffer from the condition sometimes experience swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches, vision problems and other symptoms..

The Yale study looked at chocolate consumption and also at levels of a byproduct of chocolate consumption, called theobromine, in the cord blood of pregnant women. Although the study did not distinguish between dark and other kinds of chocolate, dark chocolate has higher levels of theobromine.

The study of 1,681 women showed that the women who reported chocolate consumption of more than five servings a week had a lower risk of developing preeclampsia. Among the 1,346 women with cord blood data available, those with higher theobromine levels had significantly lower risk of developing preeclampsia than those who had low levels of theobromine.

Results were particularly dramatic for women with the highest levels of theobromine. Women who had levels in the top 1/4 for theobromine were nearly 70 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia than women in the lowest 1/4 for theobromine. Having the theobromine data available as a more objective measure of chocolate consumption was a strength of the study, Triche said.

Researchers have speculated that the presence of anti-oxidants called flavonoids in dark chocolate may confer cardiovascular benefits.

“This looks promising, but we need to do more research into how much and what type of chocolate is the most beneficial," Triche said.

Works Cited : Epidemiology Vol. 19: 459-464 (May 2008)