It goes without saying that you should watch what you eat while pregnant. But new research conducted at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, recently published in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that eating well during your three trimesters could set your baby up for healthy preferences in the future. So, if you eat a lot of vegetables while expecting, your infant will come out ready for some spinach!
After analyzing the amniotic fluid of women who had recently given birth, researchers initially found that babies showed a favorable reaction to food they had been exposed to in the womb.
In the study, one group of expectant women were asked to drink a glass of carrot juice every day. On further testing, their babies undeniably preferred to be fed cereal with the veggies over cereal without.
From an evolutionary perspective, that a baby's tastes can be "prepared" in the womb makes sense. The experts suggest that it helps infants develop a preference for food that's actually available once they're born.