Is Cacao Safe In Pregnancy? What The Guidance Says
If you are asking whether cacao is safe in pregnancy, the honest answer is that no food brand is in a position to tell you, and the people who can are your midwife and your GP. What can be set out plainly is the official guidance that exists in Great Britain, which is about caffeine rather than about cacao specifically: the NHS advises no more than 200mg of caffeine a day during pregnancy, and puts a 50g bar of plain dark chocolate at under 25mg.
Most pages on this question do something else. They collect reassuring sentences about cacao, stack them up, and let the reader draw the conclusion the page is not allowed to state. This one reports the guidance, says who issued it, and then stops.
What the NHS guidance actually says
The NHS page on foods to avoid in pregnancy, last reviewed on 15 June 2026, states that "you should not have more than 200mg of caffeine a day". It gives estimated figures for common sources so the number can be used: about 100mg in a cup of instant coffee, about 75mg in a cup of black or green tea, about 40mg in a can of cola, about 80mg in a 250ml can of energy drink, under 25mg in a 50g bar of plain dark chocolate and under 10mg in a 50g bar of plain milk chocolate. It also names guarana and some health and fitness supplements as caffeine sources people forget.
The page gives its reason in one sentence: "Having too much caffeine has been linked to a higher chance of miscarriage and stillbirth." It notes that filter coffee and coffee bought out can contain more than the instant figure. That is the whole of the NHS position on caffeine, and it is worth reading on the NHS site rather than in anyone's summary, including this one.
What EFSA concluded, and what it did not
The 200mg figure is not a British invention. The European Food Safety Authority published a Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine in 2015, which concluded that for healthy adults single doses up to 200mg and daily intakes up to 400mg from all sources do not raise safety concerns, with pregnancy treated separately: for pregnant women, EFSA concluded that caffeine intakes from all sources up to 200mg per day, consumed throughout the day, do not raise safety concerns for the foetus.
Two things about that opinion are routinely misread. It is a statement about an intake level across all sources in a day, not a statement about any single food. And it is about caffeine, not about chocolate, cacao, theobromine or anything else a cacao product contains. An opinion on one compound cannot be stretched into a verdict on a whole food, which is exactly what marketing copy tends to do with it.
How to do the arithmetic from a pack
Caffeine is rarely printed on a chocolate label in Great Britain, because there is no requirement to declare it on a solid food at these levels. That leaves estimates. The NHS figures above are the usable ones, and they are per 50g bar, so a portion of 20g is roughly two fifths of the quoted number.
| Source | NHS estimate | Share of a 200mg day |
|---|---|---|
| Cup of instant coffee | about 100mg | half |
| Cup of black or green tea | about 75mg | just over a third |
| 250ml can of energy drink | about 80mg | two fifths |
| Can of cola | about 40mg | a fifth |
| 50g bar of plain dark chocolate | under 25mg | under an eighth |
| 50g bar of plain milk chocolate | under 10mg | under a twentieth |
Those are estimates for generic bars, not measurements of any particular product. Cocoa percentage, bean origin and portion size all move the number, and no reference table knows what is in the pack in front of you. If an exact figure matters for your situation, the question to ask is the manufacturer's, and the decision is your midwife's.
Why the brand selling it is the wrong place to ask
This is a commercial page on a cacao company's website. That is a conflict of interest, and the sensible response to it is a limit rather than a disclaimer buried at the bottom. So, stated plainly: nothing on this page is a statement about whether Chaski Cacao, or any other product we sell, is suitable during pregnancy. We are not saying it is. We are not saying it is not. That question belongs with the midwife or GP who knows your pregnancy, and it is not one that can be answered by a page written for everybody.
What we can describe is composition, which is a matter of fact rather than advice. Chaski Cacao is a 600g tube of 77% dark chocolate buttons, with a daily dose of four buttons printed on the pack. The cacao is single-origin, from Peru and Ecuador, and ground at low temperature. It is sweetened with coconut sugar rather than added cane sugar, and contains no emulsifiers, no seed oils and no palm oil. Every batch is tested for lead, cadmium and pesticides. Take that list to your appointment if it helps; do not take this page.
If you want to read around the subject first, our page on how much caffeine cacao contains sets out where the compound comes from in the bean, the comparison between theobromine and caffeine explains why the two are often confused, and there is a companion page on chocolate during pregnancy. The full index sits at our guides hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much caffeine is allowed in pregnancy in the UK?
The NHS states that you should not have more than 200mg of caffeine a day while pregnant. Its estimates for common sources are about 100mg for a cup of instant coffee, about 75mg for black or green tea, about 80mg for a 250ml can of energy drink, about 40mg for a can of cola, under 25mg for a 50g bar of plain dark chocolate and under 10mg for a 50g bar of plain milk chocolate. The European Food Safety Authority reached the same 200mg figure for pregnant women in its 2015 opinion on caffeine. Check the current NHS page and ask your midwife about your own situation.
Does dark chocolate contain more caffeine than milk chocolate?
On the NHS estimates, yes. The NHS puts a 50g bar of plain dark chocolate at under 25mg of caffeine and a 50g bar of plain milk chocolate at under 10mg. The difference follows from how much of the bar is cocoa solids, since the caffeine comes from the bean rather than from the sugar or the milk. These are generic figures for the two categories rather than measurements of a named bar, and cocoa percentage and bean origin both move the number. A manufacturer is the only source for a specific product.
Is theobromine the same thing as caffeine?
No. They are two different compounds that both occur in cacao, and the NHS caffeine guidance covers caffeine only. Guidance issued about one compound cannot be read across to the other, in either direction, and no official GB intake figure for theobromine in pregnancy is quoted on the NHS pages referenced here. If theobromine is the specific thing you want to ask about, that is a question for a midwife or GP rather than for a reference table, and it is worth raising it in those words at your next appointment.
Can you tell me whether your product is suitable in pregnancy?
No, and we will not try. Chaski Cacao is a food sold by a company with an obvious commercial interest in the answer, so any statement we made in either direction would be worth less than the one your midwife makes. What we will give you is the composition: a 600g tube of 77% dark chocolate buttons, four buttons as the daily dose on the pack, single-origin Peruvian and Ecuadorian cacao, coconut sugar, no emulsifiers, no seed oils, no palm oil, and every batch tested for lead, cadmium and pesticides. Take the ingredient list to your appointment.
Where should I take this question instead?
Your midwife first, and your GP if you are not yet booked in with a midwife. The NHS page on foods to avoid in pregnancy is the right place to read the general guidance, since it is reviewed on a published schedule and the version you read will be current. Both know things this page cannot: what else you consume across a day, and what you have already been advised. A general page is not a substitute for either.
Sources
- NHS, Foods to avoid in pregnancy, last reviewed 15 June 2026
- European Food Safety Authority, Caffeine (summarising the 2015 Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine), 2015