Getting children to eat their vegetables starts in the womb, researchers suggest
Rather than bribery, or hiding carrots under ketchup, the key may be to expose foetuses to healthy flavoursIt is an age-old battle with small children that most parents will recognise: please, please, eat your vegetables.Some will read them books with titles such as The Boy Who Loved Broccoli.Others have been known to smother veg in tomato ketchup, or mix avocado and fruit with Greek yoghurt and call it icecream.Or resort to plain bribery.Now, a study suggests there may be a more effective approach – but mothers need to start early.
Researchers have discovered that young children are less likely to react negatively to the smell of vegetables that they were repeatedly exposed to before birth.The implications could be huge.Prof Nadja Reissland of Durham University, the study’s lead author, said a consequence would be “that you have a healthier population”.Researchers gave some pregnant women kale powder capsules and others were given carrot powder capsules.They then examined and coded the facial reactions of their child to carrot or kale.
This was first done before the baby was born, using ultrasound, then repeated when they were about three weeks old,Most recently, 12 children were observed age three,The images of a child exposed to carrots reacting positively to the smell of a cotton swab dipped in carrot and grimacing at the smell of kale speaks volumes,The reaction of the children exposed to kale was similar – they were happy to smell kale but not carrot,Reissland said the same patterns were repeated before birth, at three weeks and at three years.
“What we see over time is that the children are still more favourable to vegetables they were exposed to while they were in the womb.From this we can suggest that being exposed to a particular flavour in late pregnancy can result in long-lasting flavour or odour memory in children, potentially shaping their food preferences years after birth.”Reissland said the team had alighted on giving carrot and kale powder capsules after some of the pregnant women balked at drinking so much kale juice or carrot juice in the name of science.“Some of them said absolutely not.They were choking, couldn’t do it.
I mean, it was all really good juice, very expensive.”Reissland acknowledged that the research, funded by a grant from Aston University, in Birmingham, involved a small sample of mothers and children.“We really need to do a much bigger study and if we had the funding, we would.”She said it would not cost much to give vegetable powder capsules to pregnant women in the hope of having a healthier population.The idea could also be adapted to different cultures.
“I’ve just come back from Japan … where you get loads and loads of fish.It is a different type of healthy eating, but if you get the foetus used to that food, then in later life they might be much more interested in eating healthily.”The study included researchers at universities in France and the Netherlands as well as at Cambridge and Aston universities in the UK.One co-author, Dr Beyza Ustun-Elayan of the University of Cambridge, said: “These findings open up new ways of thinking about early dietary interventions, suggesting that flavours from the maternal diet during pregnancy may quietly shape children’s responses to foods years later.”.
Another co-author, Dr Benoist Schaal from the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research), in France, said: “This study confirms that human foetuses can sense the flavours of foods that pregnant mothers eat, which might affect what they will like for years after birth.Research is needed on other odorants and how they affect the foetus and child.”Reissland said there was still much to be learned about what affects the foetus, pointing to the presence of artificial sweeteners in so many products, including toothpaste.The paper, Do Human Fetuses Form Long-Lasting Chemosensory Memories? is published in the journal Developmental Psychobiology.
‘I’m unique’: Dyson Daniels on his NBA niche, missing three-pointers… and investing tips
He is a shooting guard that doesn’t often shoot. A wing deployed less for lift than pressure. The style of Australia’s best basketballer, Dyson Daniels, is difficult to describe. “It’s kind of hard for me to describe it too,” he says. “It’s unique
The Spin | ‘We have a hoot on the field’: Oswestry CC boasts 10 mother-daughter pairs
Women and Girls section has built strong family dynamic since launching in 2018 – and embraced Wags monikerThe acronym Wags first entered popular consciousness in 2006 during England’s football World Cup adventures in Baden-Baden. Victoria Beckham, Cheryl Tweedy and the gang became a sneering tabloid obsession, their matching outfits, nightclub antics and hair extensions gleefully picked apart.Twenty years later, a very different set of Wags are causing a stir at Oswestry Cricket Club on the north Shropshire-Wales border. The thriving Women and Girls section (WaGs) has an astonishing 10 mother and daughter pairs who have played competitive cricket together, ranging from 12 years old to 67.The oldest member is the irrepressible Jools Payne, team manager and founding player
How will the liberal Masai Ujiri handle leading the ultraconservative Dallas Mavericks?
On its face, the fit between Masai Ujiri and the Dallas Mavericks is perfect. “It’s almost like a match made in heaven,” Ujiri said after being introduced as the franchise’s president of basketball operations and alternate governor last week. “Every single one of us in this world is chosen for something special, and we just have to find it,” he added. “And I found basketball.”Since he became the first African to run a major sports franchise in the United States as the general manager of the Denver Nuggets in 2010, Ujiri has accomplished everything
World’s No 1 disabled golfer Kipp Popert: ‘The best need to play for a living. The sport has stopped’
Kipp Popert is a man on a mission. The 27-year‑old Englishman, who tops the disabled world rankings, uses one word a lot: “opportunity”. Popert was “shocked” to hear from the DP World Tour that its G4D circuit, which staged a handful of tournaments per year for disabled players between 2022 and 2025, has been placed into cold storage.The G4D Open, a tournament for 80 golfers with disabilities, will be staged at Celtic Manor from Thursday. It takes place thousands of miles from Pennsylvania and this week’s US PGA Championship, which last year bestowed $3
Racing need not fear Green party ‘conversation’ but must continue efforts on horse welfare
The Green party surged to record results at local and national level in last week’s elections, prompting Zack Polanski, the party’s leader in England and Wales, to suggest that two-party politics is “dead and buried”. Ladbrokes, meanwhile, subsequently cut the odds about the Green party winning the most seats at the next general election to 12-1, while an overall majority for the Greens is priced at 28-1.Not likely, in other words but, at the same time, far from impossible. In the case of a majority for Polanski’s party, it is roughly the same price as Moon Chime, the winner of the big handicap hurdle at Haydock last Saturday. However the party fares in terms of seat numbers, the Green voice in the next parliament, in three years’ time or possibly fewer, seems sure to be significantly louder than ever before
From the Pocket: Voss coached the way he played and his brutal football failed Carlton
When John Elliott died in 2021, the old, dark, imperial Carlton was dead. The new Carlton was grounded on “respect, humility and integrity”. The new president was a master networker. The new chief executive was the best administrator in football. The new coach had been one of the great players of his generation
Milka maker milked shoppers over size of chocolate bars, German court rules
Global oil inventories falling at record pace amid Iran war; US producer price inflation hits four-year high – as it happened
Nissan ponders building cars for Chinese rivals at Sunderland plant
Lab testing group Intertek to back £10.6bn takeover by Swedish firm EQT
UK housebuilder Vistry warns of ‘significantly’ lower profits amid Iran war uncertainty
How new owner became all powerful in ‘high stakes’ attempt to revive former WH Smith chain