  urlLink DrWeil.com Question: Choosing a Healthy Mother’s Day Gift? : "New research indicates that babies may benefit, too, when their mothers eat chocolate during pregnancy. Researchers in Finland asked 300 pregnant women to record their stress levels and keep track of their chocolate consumption, and then followed the children after birth. The results of the study showed that at six months of age, the babies of women who ate chocolate during pregnancy smiled and laughed more often. Likewise, the children of women who had high stress and ate chocolate showed less fear in new situations than the babies of stressed mothers who passed up chocolate when they were pregnant.
While there’s no proven link between the chocolate and the babies’ behavior, the researchers speculated that the cheerfulness noted among some of the babies could stem from the effect in the womb of their mothers’ positive moods, possibly stemming from the chemicals in chocolate. Results of the study were published in the April 6, 2004 issue of New Scientist. " 
