Posted on 12/04/2007 1:43:39 PM PST by blam
Eat Fruits And Veggies While Breastfeeding And Baby Will Probably Like Them
ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2007) — Moms, want your baby to learn to like fruits and vegetables?
Breastfed babies whose mothers eat fruits and vegetables are more inclined to like those foods themselves, a new study has found. (Credit: iStockphoto/Amy Kimball)
According to new research from the Monell Center, if you're breast feeding, you can provide baby with a good start by eating them yourself.
And, offer your baby plenty of opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables as s/he makes the transition to solid foods by giving repeated feeding exposures to these healthy foods -- regardless of whether you're breast feeding or using formula.
"Vegetable and fruit consumption is linked to lower risks of obesity and certain cancers," says senior author Julie A. Mennella, PhD. "The best predictor of how much fruits and vegetables children eat is whether they like the tastes of these foods. If we can get babies to learn to like these tastes, we can get them off to an early start of healthy eating."
The study, designed to test the influence of early sensory experiences on the development of healthy eating patterns, is published in the December 2007 issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Mennella and co-author Catherine A. Forestell, PhD, studied 45 infants, 20 of whom were breastfed. The infants, who were between the ages of four and eight months and unaccustomed to eating solids other than cereal, were randomly assigned to one of two groups.
One group was fed green beans for eight consecutive days; the other was given green beans and then peaches over the same period. Acceptance of both foods was assessed before and after the repeated exposure period.
The results revealed that breast-feeding confers an advantage for baby's acceptance of foods during weaning -- but only if the mother regularly eats those foods.
During their first exposure to peaches, breast-fed infants ate more and for a longer period of time, compared to formula-fed infants. Questionnaires revealed that mothers of breast-fed infants ate more fruits than did formula-feeding mothers, suggesting that the enhanced peach acceptance of their infants might be attributed to increased exposure to fruit flavors through breast milk.
However, both groups of mothers reported eating green beans and green vegetables infrequently, at levels below current recommendations. Accordingly, there was no difference in the amount of green beans eaten by breast-fed and formula-fed infants the first time the vegetables were offered.
"It's a beautiful system," says Mennella. "Flavors from the mother's diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother's milk. So, a baby learns to like a food's taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis."
In both groups, repeated opportunities to taste green beans over eight days enhanced acceptance of the vegetable, increasing intake by almost three-fold.
"Babies are born with a dislike for bitter tastes," explains Mennella. "If mothers want their babies to learn to like to eat vegetables, especially green vegetables, they need to provide them with opportunities to taste these foods."
The researchers also found that babies' facial expressions did not always match their willingness to continue feeding, noting that infants innately display facial expressions of distaste to certain flavors.
They urge caregivers to provide their infants with repeated opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables, focusing on the infant's willingness to eat the food instead of on their negative facial expressions during eating.
Funding: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Canadian Institutes of Health.
Adapted from materials provided by Monell Chemical Senses Center.
Grabbing popcorn
So this explains why America is crazy for pizza.
I don't think it takes eating fruits and vegetables to encourage babies to like breasts.
My mom doesn’t drink Scotch, like pepperoni, or pork rinds so I call BS on this study.
It worked like gangbusters on my niece. The girl loves salad and will eat avocados faster than you can peel them.
Also eat lots of fruits and veges in front of your child and they will eat them too. Kids learn from their parents, including really bad and good eating habits....
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For Those Interested in the Research of Dr. Weston A. Price |
It's always good to see common sense quantified. ;)
Breast Thread Ping!
Jeffery Dahmer’s mother?
Mom, eat more lobster please!
I thought that it came with weaning, but then again I suppose most kids are getting weaned improperly being obese.
I know my younger sister adamantly refused to breastfeed beyond the first day or two. I've also heard (anecdotal evidence) that many young women feel it's "weird" or are more worried about their looks so they opt not to.
checking in.
huh? Most breastfed babies are thin.
We have nine children. All were breastfed. They all have different tastes and always have. Some will not eat bananas. (they are coincidentally pale-skinned. my mother was pale-skinned and allergic to potassium. she did not like bananas either.)
I love avocados. I eat them frequently, but our youngest spits them out as soon as I put them in his mouth. He loves hot sauce and mustard. Our oldest son has been feeding the youngest hot sauce for months. The baby doesn’t even flinch.
All of our children are chocolate consumers. Is this a coincidence??????????????
Adult humans eat food. Baby humans do, too. Isn’t that amazing?
Yep,
I’ve even heard “I don’t want to mess them (my breasts) up...they’re for mah man!”
Like damn woman, get a clue.
I do know that the pickiest eaters I’ve had to deal with came from parents who were super picky themselves. Kids do learn from what they’re offered.
While parents with a wide range of food prefs will produce children with a varied and wide range of likes and dislikes,
you never see a child saying “I want more broccoli” if Mom and Dad both hate veges.
Its like if you offer someone 1000 choices, they will likely end up with 800 favorites.
But if they only have 10 choices, they will at best, still only have 10 favorites.
In the movie “Breast Men” women are filmed visible only from the neck down, showing the supposed ravages of breastfeeding, as one comments,
“I love my children. I hate what they’ve done to my body.”
Yep, but that’s what God made breasts for (supposedly, though lately, I’ve come to wonder..........)
bmflr
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Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
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