Yes, you can consume chocolate in moderation without getting sick.
It’s not necessary to claim pregnant cravings as a justification to crave chocolate because it’s so widely favored.
However, you might be unsure about what you can and cannot consume because of your pregnancy.
Read on to learn more.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
✅ There are dietary requirements, worries, and strains associated with pregnancy.
✅ Fortunately, the need for chocolate at midnight is not one of them.
Pregnancy and chocolate consumption
When it comes to eating chocolate while pregnant, as long as we’re not talking about a six-pack of king-sized candy bars, a few pieces are completely okay. Moderation is an excellent general rule in life, as it is in most other things.
Sugar
Pregnant women sometimes utilize this period to watch their intake of items like coffee, sugar, and needless additives and to be particularly careful about their nutrition.
And there’s a solid reason for it: Studies have shown that eating excessive amounts of calories and added sugar while pregnant can have detrimental effects on the health of both the mother and the unborn child. For instance, eating a lot of sugar when pregnant has been linked to an increased risk of pregnancy-related diabetes.
- accelerated weight growth during pregnancy
- preeclampsia
- Preterm delivery
For this reason, it is advised that pregnant women limit their intake of added sugar to prevent these potential issues. This does not exclude you from partaking in chocolate, though. It simply means that the consumption of chocolate and other items high in added sugar should be restricted.
Additionally, by selecting chocolate goods with less added sugar than others, you can reduce the amount of added sugar you consume.
White chocolate and candy bars (like Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars, for instance) are examples of very sweet chocolates. In general, less sugar is present in darker chocolate.
Caffeine
Caffeine consumption is another issue, as it has been associated with an increased risk of miscarriage. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) currently advises pregnant women to consume no more than 200 mg of caffeine per day. Don’t worry, you can still occasionally eat a piece of chocolate and keep it under this limit.
Look at these average caffeine concentrations:
- 1.45-ounce dark chocolate bar with 30 mg of caffeine
- 1.55-ounce milk chocolate bar with 11 mg of caffeine
- 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup contains 3 mg of caffeine.
Once more, the kind of chocolate is important. Compared to milk chocolate, dark chocolate has roughly three times as much caffeine. A significant amount of chocolate will push you beyond the advised daily caffeine intake if you’ve previously consumed two cups of coffee.
You may estimate how much caffeine you eat on an average day by simply keeping a note of your intake for a few days. From there, modifications can be made.
The benefits of chocolate consumption during pregnancy for an adult
Awaiting the good news? According to a 2018 study, regularly indulging in chocolate can really lower your risk for preeclampsia and gestational hypertension.
In an examination of almost 2,000 pregnancies, chocolate consumption in the first and third trimesters was linked to a lower risk of preeclampsia, but only the first trimester was linked to a lower risk of gestational hypertension. (With the qualification that additional research is required to support these results.)
There are additional unexpected advantages to dark chocolate in particular, even while you can’t replace your prenatal vitamin with a chocolate bar. Dark chocolate, for instance, has minerals including magnesium, copper, and iron.
Dark chocolate includes antioxidants that are beneficial to everyone’s health, not just pregnant women, just like that bunch of blueberries, you know you should be eating. In contrast to a control group, one 2018 study indicated that 8 days of daily dark chocolate consumption improved some measures of brain function.
The benefits of chocolate consumption during pregnancy for the baby
Chocolate might hold the key to getting your baby’s blood flowing for optimum growth. Participants in a 2016 study that involved two groups of pregnant women consumed 30 grams of chocolate daily for 12 weeks (that must have been a difficult study to take part in, right?). At their ultrasounds, both groups—one consuming low-flavanol chocolate and the other high-flavanol chocolate—showed enhanced blood flow to the fetus.
Additionally, the stories your grandmother has been giggling over your expanding belly may actually be supported by science: an earlier study found that eating chocolate may make newborns have “sweeter” temperaments. In a study involving about 300 mothers, those who regularly ate chocolate thought their 6-month-olds had happier dispositions.
Then again, perhaps those mothers had a more favorable perspective on their children because chocolate often improves our mood.
Chocolate consumption throughout the third trimester
Though experts aren’t entirely certain of the implications yet, the same beneficial association between chocolate and blood flow potentially offers more of a concern throughout the third trimester.
In a 2014 study, chocolate consumption in the third trimester was evaluated. It was concluded that there might be late-pregnancy adverse effects on the baby’s ductus arteriosus (DA). A crucial blood artery for development in the fetus called the DA vanishes shortly after birth.
Researchers essentially advised women to exercise caution while ingesting chocolate during this stage of pregnancy because its anti-inflammatory properties might work against them. But for chocolate to be harmful, you would probably need to consume a lot of it.
Suggestions on consuming chocolate when pregnant
Throughout your pregnancy, you can have chocolate—especially dark chocolate—in moderation. The advantages are fairly well established, and they may include lowering blood pressure and lowering the risk of certain problems as well as enhancing blood flow to both the mother and the unborn child.
There is some evidence that chocolate consumption increases in the third trimester, but not enough for doctors to advise against it. Last but not least, you may want to keep an eye on your overall caffeine and sugar intake while you are pregnant and make sure that eating chocolate is included in those totals.