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Chocolate in pregnancy makes baby happy
A study at University of Helsinki, Finland, may have found a link between chocolate consumed by the pregnant mother and the happiness of the baby. In the study pregnant women were asked to keep track of their own stress levels and the amount of chocolate they ate.
When the babies were born, the amount of chocolate was linked to the babies' behavior. Six months after the baby was born the mothers were asked to rate their infants' behavior in various categories, like fear, smiling and laughter.
The babies whose mothers had been eating chocolate daily during pregnancy were more active and reacting more positively. (this included smiling and laughter.) Even the babies of stressed women who had regularly eaten chocolate showed less fear of new situations than babies of stressed women who didn’t. It seems the positive feelings are maybe transmitted to the baby either by chemicals from the mother or from the chocolate itself.
Although this may be yet another reason to eat more chocolate the researchers write they cannot rule out the possibility that chocolate consumption and baby behavior are both linked with other factors. (Early Human Development vol 76, p 139)
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