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.
My mom must have eaten lobster and steaks.
Horse feathers.
I breast fed both my kids for the same amount of time, ate the same diet, started them off the same and fed *them* the same diet, and they couldn’t have more different tastes.
One was a starch lover of every sort. Potatoes, noodles, rice etc. She would eat fruit and veggies but didn’t care much for meat. The other preferred protein in every form. Didn’t want potato or starch. He didn’t much care for veggies until he grew up and married a woman who eats them a lot. Now he is a salad fiend..... but still loves meat and fish.
“My mom doesn’t drink Scotch, like pepperoni, or pork rinds so I call BS on this study.”
So, she is still breastfeeding you?
I don’t remember when she stopped, I was pretty young.
Good thing, it might have been traumatic if it happened in your teens.
I probably would have starved to death, Mom was pretty flatchested. She used to say she was the Wire Mother in the Harry Harlow experiments.
When I was 16, my dad married an 18yr old that I swear she could have breast fed sextuplets with no problem. I am still jealous of my younger half brother..
Maybe if I sucked on a breast while eating broccoli I’d like broccoli more, too!
Worked for me with carrot juice! :o)
How do you characterize “weaned improperly”?
Reminded me of the story I read about a health-nut in Florida. he drank so much carrot juice that he got cirossis of the liver and died.
Guess what...Most kids and big people like fruits and vegetables. Even you don’t like brocoli...you get labeled. Geez...Stupid studies.
I've always been more of a leg man. My first wife was really put out by the disdain I showed for breast fondling.
My younger son was a picky eater...
...until he encountered USMC boot camp~~
Cold shot!!!
ping
My wife's attitude (when our kids were born) was, "Hey, formula costs money. This is free!" She also said it was some of the most special time she had bonding with our kids.
>>SNORT!<<
Yes,
Parris Island would make even the pickiest eater eat anything.
I guess this explains why our son in law hates them and loves sweets, meat,chicken, taters. No fish either. LOL
This just boggles the mind. The boobs are going south whether you breastfeed or not! When the rest of you looks 40, you're boobs ain't stayin' 20.
I ate everything and my breastfed son eats everything. Anecdotally, the vege theory works for me. Wait - he doesn't like guava. He'll even eat peas, and I HATE peas. Maybe it's just correlation, because if you genetically like to eat lots of things, then your children will genetically like to eat lots of things.
I know many anecdotal stories of sickly breastfed children and super-healthy formula-fed babies. My theory is that breastmilk is only better if the mother eats healthy foods - enough protein, calcium, quality fats, and veges and fruits for their nutrients.
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