If you frown at eating kale, you know you’re not alone.
Research has found that fetuses in their mother’s womb appear to smile after eating carrots and grimace after eating kale.
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According to the University of Durham’s Neonatal Research Laboratory in the UK, the study is the first direct evidence that fetuses respond to different tastes in real time.
Researchers conducted a study of over 100 pregnant women in England.
They gave capsules of carrot powder to 35 women. Another 34 took kale powder. The remaining 30 women were part of a control group and did not take these substances.
According to the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, 4D ultrasound showed 20 minutes after the mothers swallowed the capsules that most fetuses exposed to kale appeared to grimace. Meanwhile, those exposed to carrots appeared to be smiling.
The control group of 30 pregnant women who ate nothing at all didn’t have the same reactions.
Previous studies have shown that food preferences can begin even before birth because the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus can have different flavors depending on the pregnant woman’s diet.
According to the University of Durham, this is the first study to directly analyze unborn babies’ responses to different tastes.
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But when does a fetus start tasting new foods?
“We know from previous research that the nutrition fetuses receive from the mother’s diet is really important for later healthy development. What we don’t know, however, is when it actually starts,” says Nadja Reissland, coauthor of the study and head of Durham University’s Laboratory of Fetal and Neonatal Research.
“Unborn babies are already showing their liking for sugar as early as 14 weeks of pregnancy,” she told the BBC.
“For our experiment, we gave babies the powder capsules between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy because their facial expressions are becoming more and more complex,” he says.
“We want to continue researching and recording data from these babies after birth and see if they respond to carrots and cabbage the same way they did in the womb,” says Reissland.
But what does this experiment tell us about taste development in babies?
According to Reissland, the study indicates that taste develops very early and also depends on the enculturation of the food environment.
“Since the fetus gets this nutrition from the mother, it gets used to it after birth and continues to feed itself,” says the researcher.
Bitter flavors associated with poison
Reissland also points out another reason why fetuses may reject bitter flavors.
“We also associate a bitter taste with the risk of poisoning and react accordingly. However, since not every bitter taste indicates poison, we must educate ourselves and our children to overcome this reaction. Certain foods that taste bitter are healthy,” says Reissland.
However, she adds that while the images show an adultlike response to the bitter taste, it remains to be seen whether fetuses actually experience emotion or heartbreak.
The grimaces and smiles on the ultrasound “could just be the muscle movements responding to a bitter taste,” says Reissland.
However, she adds that it’s normal for fetuses to have facial expressions.
What do other scientists think?
Daniel Robinson, associate professor of neonatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the United States, is not involved with the research.
He told NBC television that people shouldn’t interpret the ultrasound images as evidence that the fetuses showed happiness or heartbreak.
Julie Mennella of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia is also not involved in the study, but is an expert in the field.
In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, she said the work confirms previous findings that children learn about their mother’s diet through the taste of the food in the amniotic fluid.
The publication also cites Professor Catherine Forestell of the College of William & Mary in Virginia, who said she looks forward to future research into how a fetus responds to a mother’s diet.
“Several studies have shown that babies can taste and smell in the womb. But they are based on results collected after birth, while our study is the first to observe these responses before birth,” said Beyza Ustun, who led the research.
“We believe that this repeated exposure to flavors before birth can help determine food preferences, which can be important when considering messages about healthy eating and the potential to avoid binge eating,” says Ustun.
In practice, the research can therefore provide clues for new mothers and fathers who want to ensure that their child has a healthy diet.