Can Diet During Pregnancy Influence Baby's Eating Habits?

A study shows that babies can develop food preferences based on flavors their mothers consume during pregnancy, potentially shaping healthier eating habits from birth.

Highlights:

Babies recognize and remember flavors of food from the womb
Facial expressions show reactions to different tastes before birth
Early exposure to flavors may shape healthy eating habits

Newborn babies react positively to the smell of foods they were exposed to in the womb. This can help babies to eat healthy and nutrition-rich food as they grow old.

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‘Babies develop food preferences in the womb, reacting to flavors mothers eat during #pregnancy #prenatalhealth #healthyeating #medindia’

Pregnancy Diet and Baby’s Food Preferences

The memory of food the mother consumes during pregnancy creates a preference for those smells and potentially helps build healthy eating habits at a young age. The research led by Durham University, UK, analyzed the facial expressions of babies exposed continuously to either carrot or kale in the womb after birth ().

The study focused on how prenatal factors can influence the development of healthy eating habits in babies. Pregnant mothers who had taken carrot powder capsules and kale powder capsules, their newborn babies were more likely to react to the smell of carrots and kale. The research included scientists from Aston University, UK, and the CNRS and University of Burgundy, France. It is published in Appetite.

Research co-lead author and supervisor Professor Nadja Reissland, of the Fetal and Neonatal Research Lab, Department of Psychology, Durham University, said that their analysis of babies’ facial expressions suggests that they appear to react more favorably towards the smell of foods their mothers ate during the last months of pregnancy.

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Babies React to Flavors Before Birth

In a 2022 study, researchers used 4D ultrasound scans at 32 and 36 gestational weeks to study fetal facial expressions after their pregnant mothers took a single dose of 400mg of carrot or kale capsules. Fetuses exposed to carrots showed more “laughter-face” expressions while those exposed to kale showed more “cry-face” expressions.

The recent study analyzed 32 babies (16 boys and 16 girls) from the 36th week of pregnancy to three weeks after birth. Mothers consumed either carrot or kale capsules for three consecutive weeks until birth. Newborn babies were tested after three weeks of birth to find their reactions to kale, carrot, and a control odor.

Wet cotton swabs dipped in carrot and kale powders and water for control were kept under the infant’s nose and their reactions to the different smells were recorded as a video. However, the babies did not taste the swabs.

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Babies Remember Flavors from the Womb, Influencing Their Taste After Birth

Scientists then analyzed the footage to see how the newborns reacted and compared these reactions with those seen before the babies were born to understand the effects of repeated flavor exposure in the last trimester of pregnancy. The research team found that, from the fetal to newborn period, there was an increased frequency of “laughter-face” responses and a decreased frequency of “cry-face” responses to the smell the babies had experienced before birth.

Humans experience flavor through a combination of taste and smell. In the fetus, it happens through inhaling and swallowing amniotic fluid in the womb. Dr Ustun-Elayan, University of Cambridge, said: “Our research showed that fetuses can not only sense and distinguish different flavors in the womb but also start learning and establish memory for certain flavors if exposed to them repeatedly.

“This shows that developing food preferences begins much earlier than we thought, right from the womb. By introducing these flavors early on, we might be able to shape healthier eating habits in children from the start.” However, researchers suggest future studies be carried out on a larger group of infants, at different times.

Reference:

TEMPORARY REMOVAL: Flavor learning and memory in utero as assessed through the changing pattern of olfactory responses from fetal to neonatal life - (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666325000431?via%3Dihub)

Source-Medindia

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