Feeding pregnant women vegetables could encourage healthy habits in youngsters by training babies to react positively to their smell, a study suggests.
Researchers analysed the facial expressions of babies who had been repeatedly exposed to either kale or carrot in the womb.
Newborns whose mothers had taken carrot powder capsules during the last weeks of pregnancy were more likely to react favourably to the vegetable’s scent. The same effect was seen for kale.
Study leader Professor Nadja Reissland, of Durham University’s Fetal and Neonatal Research Lab, said: “Potentially this means we could encourage babies to react more positively towards green vegetables, for example, by exposing them to these foods during pregnancy.
“In that respect, the memory of food the mother consumes during pregnancy appears to establish a preference for those smells and potentially could help to establish healthy eating habits at a young age.”
The study involved 32 babies who were involved in a previous study that analysed their facial expressions in the womb using 4D ultrasound scans.
Participating mums ate either carrot or kale capsules for three consecutive weeks before giving birth.
The babies’ reactions were then tested at around three weeks of age by holding cotton swabs dipped in vegetable powders under their noses.
More “laughter-face” responses and and fewer cry-face” responses were recorded for smells the babies had experienced before birth.
Co-lead author Dr Beyza Ustun-Elayan, who is now based at the University of Cambridge, said the research “shows that the process of developing food preferences begins much earlier than we thought, right from the womb”.
She added: “By introducing these flavours early on, we might be able to shape healthier eating habits in children from the start.”
The team stressed that further studies involving infants would be needed to understand the long-term effects of early exposure on children’s eating behaviours.
The study, also involving scientists from Aston University and the University of Burgundy in France, was published in the journal Appetite.
