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September 12, 2011
More Reasons to Eat Healthy During Pregnancy
Want to instill in your child a love of vegetables? Start early. Very early.
New research by the Monell Chemical Senses Center finds mothers can influence a baby's palate and food memories before it is born. The study finds that what a woman eats during her pregnancy shapes the baby's food preferences later in life.
In the womb, the baby is surrounded and nourished on the amniotic fluid, which is filled with the flavors of what the mom has eaten.
Things like vanilla, carrot, garlic, anise, mint -- these are some of the flavors that have been shown to be transmitted to amniotic fluid or mother's milk.
The babies are feasting on the flavored amniotic fluid, forming memories of these flavors even before birth. These memories result in preferences for these foods or odors for a lifetime.
For example, eating broccoli while pregnant means there's a better chance your baby will like broccoli more than another baby would, whose mother did not eat broccoli.
Very early exposure to flavors, before and after birth, and reinforcement of those flavors make it more likely that children will accept a wide variety of flavors.
Researchers say this helps explain why kids from countries with more adventurous menus enjoy more diverse foods than a child exposed to American peanut butter and jelly and chicken nuggets.
The lesson: If you want your children to eat a healthy diet or more adventurous diet, you should expose them to all the right, healthy flavors early on. Very early on.
Posted by Lisa at September 12, 2011 6:20 AM
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Comments
WOW i just came across this blog. You have so many awesome posts, I couldnt get myself to stop reading!! This is a very interesting post, I never knew that fussy eating children could have had a mother who ate a very small variety of foods when pregnant. what a great article,and blog! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!! will be following!
Posted by: BellyFatFree at September 13, 2011 1:53 PM
thank you for the blog, I love the information provided on importance of eating healthy during pregnancy, keep up the great work!
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