Do our tastes depend on what our mothers ate during pregnancy?

There are all kinds of myths going around pregnant women and their diet. From when children are born with birthmarks in the shape of their cravings, to when they have to eat for two. However, there are also some claims that, although they may seem like myths, actually have scientific evidence to back them up. A good example of this is the hypothesis that feeding pregnant women will form your kids’ preferences when they are born.

It is not so easy. If you want your child to enjoy Chinese food, you don’t have to fill up on spring rolls. It’s not 100% effective. But it is true that if a fetus is exposed to a number of certain foods in the womb, the baby will be more likely to feel familiar with them after birth and will be more likely to like them.

There are several studies that analyze how a pregnant woman’s diet affects your children’s tastes. In fact, some of them are very interesting. And most of them come to the conclusion that some kind of connection does exist. But what exactly does this have to do with? Let’s go through the steps before answering this question.

Studies demonstrating the role of diet in pregnant women

One of the first studies has been conducted demonstrating the influence of the diet of pregnant women on the tastes of their babies. in France in 2000. The study involved 24 newborns, whose mothers were divided into two groups during pregnancy.

In one of them, pregnant women took anise-flavored foods and drinks. A spice, not an alcoholic drink. It is worth remembering that the recommended amount of alcohol during pregnancy is none. In the other group, pregnant women did not take anything with anise.

After their babies were born, they were exposed to both anise and a control odor both on the day of birth and four days later. It is curious that children of pregnant women who took anise They showed interest in this smelland in the faces of the others one could see disgust or, at most, neutrality, but never interest.

This is the first study to show that there is some truth to this widely held claim about the diet of pregnant women. However, according to the logic of things, it was necessary to implement more research to check to what extent the scientific evidence reaches.

One such study was conducted just a year later. Moreover, its authors belonged to Monella Chemical Senses Center, Pennsylvania. For their experiment, they decided to add orange juice to the diet of pregnant women previously divided into three groups. The first group was taken 300 ml carrot juice four days a week for three weeks in the last trimester of pregnancy. The juice was then swapped out for water during the first two months of breastfeeding. On the other hand, the second group did the same thing, but in reverse: water during pregnancy and carrot juice during breastfeeding. Finally, there was a control group that took water both during pregnancy and lactation.

At the second stage of the experiment, we waited until weaning their kids. At this point, they were given a neutral-flavored cereal or a carrot-flavored cereal to try. Following a French study, children exposed to carrot juice during both pregnancy and lactation showed less disgusting faces and they enjoyed eating carrot cereal more than the control group. Preferences were primarily noted in those exposed before birth.

Very interesting study on rats

It has been observed that often when the diet of pregnant women contains a lot fast food, their children also show these preferences. We wanted to see to what extent this was more than just a matter of habits, so in 2013 the team Australian scientists conducted a study on rats. In the study, they found that offspring who were exposed to unhealthy foods during pregnancy or lactation responded to the consumption of these foods with activation brain reward pathwaysjust like it happens to us adults.

very energy-intensive productsfoods such as hamburgers, pizza or sweets tend to activate these pathways, which are also activated by drugs or sex. Any pleasant stimulus triggers a release of dopamine, causing that good feeling that makes us want more. In the case of drug addicts, they become desensitized and need this stimulation more and more. Otherwise, a pleasant response will not be received. In these little rats, they saw that they were no longer sensitive to junk food, as if they had been eating it for a long time.

It would be necessary to test whether the same thing happens in humans. If this is confirmed, there will be even more reasons to remove this dish from the menu. feeding of pregnant women.

What’s all this for?

The same research group that conducted the 2001 study demonstrated the reasons for this phenomenon with another experiment. To do this, he took samples amniotic fluid out of 10 pregnant women. Half of them took a garlic tablet. 45 minutes before sampling. The rest, however, took placebo.

The fluid samples were then given to an adult sensory panel, who had to determine which pregnant woman each sample came from. Most had no problems distinguish garlic.

This has been proven on other fragrances with similar results. It is known that babies swallow and inhale small amounts of amniotic fluid. So if it smells or tastes like what their mothers eat, it is normal for them to be familiar with that food at birth.

This does not mean that diet during pregnancy is critical. We can be exposed to a taste for years and still not like it. But it’s true that habit helps develop preferences. Therefore, it would be a good idea to eat everything, as long as it is healthy and safe food, so that children have a wider taste. Or at least that they weren’t particularly tender.