Posted on 12/01/2005 11:40:45 AM PST by Lorianne
The next time you complain about your kid not having his/her greens just think whether you had the right kind of food during pregnancy, as researchers have now found that flavours experienced in the womb and, later, in mothers' milk may have a significant influence on what children are willing to eat.
Research shows that the experience of food eaten by pregnant women and mothers can be transmitted to their foetuses and infants, according to a nutritionist, Julie Mennella.
Those first flavours can play a major role in determining a child's later food preferences. The research suggests that one way to help persuade children to eat their greens might be for mothers to eat vegetables themselves during and just after pregnancy.
"Although there are a lot of different factors involved, it might be sensible for mothers to think about what they're eating," Mennella, of the Monell Institute in Philadelphia, was quoted by The Independent,as saying.
She told a nutrition conference in Barcelona that research around the world had demonstrated the transmission of flavours through amniotic fluid in the womb and breast milk. One French study had shown the children of mothers exposed to anise-flavoured drinks while breastfeeding were less likely to be put off by the taste of aniseed than other babies. Similar research in Ireland found the same kind of results using garlic.
Other work involving vanilla, onions and carrots had shown that foods could flavour amniotic fluid as well as breast milk and they also influenced children's tastes.
The effect is already well known in animals. A European study showed that newly weaned rabbits will make juniper berries their food of choice if the berries had previously been fed to their mothers.
Taste and smell are primitive senses developed according to evolutionary pressure to help guide us towards the most beneficial food sources, Ms Mennella told the meeting, organised by a baby food manufacturer, Nutricia. In times of scarcity, this means seeking out sweet tastes which act as "labels" for high calorie foods. Unpleasant, bitter tastes, on the other hand, offer a warning of potentially harmful foods such as poisonous vegetables.
Mothers, Menella suggested, could help "programme" their new-borns into knowing what is good for them through their own food choices.
hmmm...this might explain why I love mexican food, sour dough bread and vodka so much....
Well, it's a little late to know this now. However, I can see this in my kids. I loved Tex-Mex until I got pregnant with the first one. Could hardly eat it that whole pregnancy. Craved salads instead. My oldest still doesn't like spicy food and eats veggies like no other child I know. The Tex-Mex thing didn't bother me with the second child and that child has dipped her chips in the hot sauce since she was old enough to hold one.
I seriously doubt my mom ate jalepeños while she was carrying me.
great.. my kid is gonna be a mushroom FREAK. my fiancee eats mushrooms on everything.
hmmm ping
Read and acknowledged for some future date. A little soon to be thinking about such things!
I have only one child, but craved TexMex morning, noon and night during my pregnancy. I was the irrational woman with the cast iron stomach beating on the door at El Fenix, El Chico, etc. at 10:30 AM wanting to know how soon I could have my enchilada, salsa, and jalapeno fix. My daughter grew up on TexMex and now at age 18 prefers it over anything else. It's a miracle I wasn't the size of a barn while I was pregnant.
As far as cravings,
I ate oatmeal with the first,
turkey with the second (in fact, to my everlasting embarrasment, the entire Thanksgiving turkey a week before he was born),
and cheese with the third.
I don't know if it had any effect on them. The guys are human vacuums.
My wife was obsessed with raw onion, cheese, and mustard sandwiches when she was pregnant. Our daughter can't stand onions or mustard to this day.
With our first, I ate a lot of McDonalds. I urped a lot of McDonalds. I urped a lot of everything. I lost 15 pounds during the first trimester, and I wasn't overweight. I ate a lot of tuna with jalapenos. And a lot of pepperoni pizza. Daughter is a teenager now. She eats just about anything. She really loves cream of mushroom soup. That did not come from me though I use a can of it in a casserole every now and again. With Child #2, I can't remember what I ate. She is very picky. Child #3 will eat almost anything. He avoided milk for years, but he seems to have developed a taste for it all of a sudden. Child #4 will eat anything. Child #5 will eat anything. Child #6 will eat anything. Child #7 will eat anything. Child #8 loves CAKE. I love CAKE. I did not eat a lot of cake when I was pregnant with her. However, I've had a lot since she was born. And I look like it. lol Child #8 will eat anything.
I think this study is silly. If a woman eats certain foods when pregnant, then she probably eats the same foods when she's not pregnant. Children eat what is put before them. If it's always junk, then that's what they'll eat. If it's a variety of nutritious stuff with a little junk mixed in occasionally, then they'll eat that.
This makes a lot of sense. I always thought this was the case.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.