Pregnant women are being advised to eat more vegetables to help their child develop a taste for nutritious food.
Scientists at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen want to test a theory that mothers could help their infants to have better eating habits if they follow a healthy diet before their child is born. Researchers say that babies are exposed to different flavours through the amniotic fluid and in the mother’s breast milk.
Jacqueline Wallace, who is leading the study, said: “Poor eating habits in childhood can continue into adolescence and adulthood and then may contribute to the development of obesity and other diseases.
“We want to test whether increasing the diversity of a mother’s diet in late pregnancy makes infants more likely to accept and enjoy a wide variety of fruit and vegetables.”
Researchers are seeking healthy women who are between 16 and 32 weeks pregnant to take part in the study. Participants would be asked to taste foods specially developed for the research and to keep a food diary.
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Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “Even in the womb the foetus learns and takes on a liking or disliking from what their mothers are eating, so it is hugely important that their mothers eat as healthy as possible.”