A group of scientists discovers the first direct evidence that the fetus responds to the flavors of the food ingested by the mother
The facial expression of a group of babies not yet borncaptured through ultrasound in 4Dconstitutes for a group of scientists the first direct evidence that the fetus reacts to the flavors of the food ingested by the mother.
The team led by Durham University (United Kingdom) performed ultrasounds on more than one hundred pregnant to observe how the fetuses reacted to the flavors of carrot or kale shortly after the mothers had eaten them.
Fetuses exposed to carrot showed more “laugh face” responses, while those exposed to kale showed more “cry face” responses, explained the aforementioned university in a statement.
Babies reaction
The authors, who publish their findings in Psychological Science, believe they could further our understanding of child development. human taste and olfactory receptors and points out that what pregnant women eat could influence the taste preferences of babies after birth.
Human beings experience taste through a combination of taste and smell. In fetuses, it is thought that this could occur by inhaling and swallowing amniotic fluid in the womb.
By looking at the facial reactions of fetusesWe can assume that a series of chemical stimuli pass through the maternal diet to the environment of the fetus & rdquor ;, in the words of Benoist Schaal, from the University of Burgundy (France), one of the signatories.
The team, led by Beyza Ustun of Durham University, highlighted thatIt was “really amazing to see the unborn babies’ reaction to the tastes of kale or carrot during the scans and sharing those moments with their parents.”
Capsules with carrot and kale
The study group consisted of women aged 18 to 40, at 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, who received a capsule containing about 400 milligrams of carrot or kale powder about 20 minutes before each scan.
the participants could not have any food or flavored drink one hour before the scan and they also did not eat anything with carrot or kale that day, to control for factors that might affect fetal reactions.
The reactions observed in both flavor groups, compared with those of fetuses in a control group that were not exposed to either flavor, showed that exposure to a small amount of carrot or kale flavor “was enough to stimulate a reaction,” the university said.
This study could have “important implications for understanding the first evidence of fetal abilities to perceive and discriminate different tastes and smells of the food eaten by their mothers”, according to another of the signatories of the investigation Nadja Reissland.
The researchers say their findings alson could help the information given to mothers about the importance of flavors and healthy diets during pregnancy.