Eating Chocolate Keeps Babies Happy
The April 04 2004 Edition of New Scientist http:⁄⁄www.newscientist.com⁄ reports that babies born to chocolate eating mother's are happier! I think it shows that chocolate eating women are happier, but what do I know?
The study of over 300 women, by Katri Raikkonen at the University of Helsinki, Finland, asked pregnant women to rate their stress levels and chocolate consumption. After the babies were born, they looked for an association between the amount of chocolate their mothers had eaten and the babies' behavior.
Six months after birth, the researchers asked mothers to rate their infants' behavior in various categories, including fear, soothability, smiling and laughter. The babies born to women who had been eating chocolate daily during pregnancy were more active and "positively reactive" - a measure that encompasses traits such as smiling and laughter.
And the babies of stressed women who had regularly consumed chocolate showed less fear of new situations than babies of stressed women who abstained.
Journal reference: Early Human Development (vol 76, p 139)
The moral is obvious. Eat chocolate; Spread happiness.