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.
Court rules Coles misled shoppers with its ‘Down Down’ discount campaign
Coles misled Australian shoppers by promoting fake “Down Down” discounts on everyday grocery products, the federal court has ruled in a landmark decision for the supermarket industry.Justice Michael O’Bryan handed down his judgment on Thursday, delivering a significant blow to Australia’s second-largest supermarket chain, which had argued that the discounts represented genuine savings during a period of high inflation.He found the supermarket giant had engaged in misleading conduct, in contravention of the Australian consumer law.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued Coles and its rival Woolworths, accusing the supermarket giants of duping shoppers between 2021 and 2023 by using promotional programs to disguise price increases on hundreds of products.O’Bryan’s verdict in the Coles case – which was heard in February – comes before his decision in a similar trial against Woolworths, which was heard in Sydney in late April and early May and which the judge will rule on later this year
Housing market in England and Wales weakening due to Iran war, say estate agents
Fears of higher mortgage rates and rising inflation as a result of the Middle East conflict are leading to a subdued and downbeat housing market, according to estate agents.Demand from potential homebuyers across England and Wales has shown a “noticeable softening” recently, according to a monthly survey of estate agents by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).Members have told the professional body that buyers and sellers are becoming more cautious, and many agents have cited clients who are worried about whether inflation and interest rates will rise in the coming months, leading to slower sales, fewer homes on the market, and more price-sensitive buyers.The Bank of England warned last month that interest rates may have to increase in the coming months as “higher inflation is unavoidable” because of the war in the Middle East and resulting jump in oil and gas prices.At the same time, mortgage rates are likely to be affected by the current sharp rise in government borrowing costs, as swap rates – which lenders use to price their fixed-rate mortgages – tend to move in tandem with government bond yields
Datacentres using 6% of electricity supply in UK and US, research says
Datacentres are consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, with the growing strain of AI on energy supplies prompting community resistance, according to research.The proportion of electricity used by vast warehouses stacked with microchips to power AI and the internet has risen 15% worldwide in the past two years as annual global investment in datacentres approaches $1tn (£740bn) – nearly 1% of the global economy, according to the International Data Center Authority (IDCA).The figures come amid energy shortages in the UK and datacentre developers reporting waits of several years for national grid connections. The IDCA said rising power usage globally was “sparking societal and political concerns” and called on tech companies to become more transparent about their plans for new datacentres to tackle “community frustration”.The Guardian this week reported that developers working for Google significantly misstated how much carbon two proposed AI datacentres would contribute to the UK’s total emissions
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang joins other US bosses on Trump trip to China
The billionaire chief executive of the chipmaker Nvidia, Jensen Huang, has joined Donald Trump’s China delegation after a reported last-minute invitation, highlighting the US’s AI and tech ambitions.Huang will join a roster of US bosses including the Tesla chief executive and X owner, Elon Musk, the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, and Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon at Trump’s 36-hour meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.The high-stakes summit is the first overseas trip for Trump since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. The summit is expected to cover topics including that conflict, tariffs and China’s relationship with Taiwan.Huang was not on the initial list of business delegates, according to reports
Ivan Cleary begins long goodbye with a legacy built to last long after he leaves Panthers | Nick Tedeschi
The great coaches all have something special that elevates them above others. Wayne Bennett built his success on connection and an ability to authentically forge relationships with generation after generation of players. Craig Bellamy has a foundation of deifying work ethic and simple communication. Trent Robinson, intellect and loyalty.Ivan Cleary is an engineer, the ultimate believer in process, a coach at once ruthless and relatable who dreamt of building a bigger and more complex machine that could sustain itself beyond the people it was initially built around
Sarah Taylor named England men’s fielding coach while Gay, Rew and Baker are called up
On a day when England named three uncapped players in their Test squad, brought Ollie Robinson out of cold storage and officially confirmed a new selector had joined the set-up, perhaps the most significant news was the identity of their fielding coach.Sarah Taylor, the former England wicketkeeper, will be in charge of the fielding drills during the three-Test series against New Zealand that begins at Lord’s on 4 June – the first female coach to work in the men’s senior setup.The fact that Rob Key, the England men’s team director, almost mentioned it in passing was fitting for a coach who has quietly risen through the ranks. Taylor, 36, has held a number of roles in the men’s game since hanging up her gloves five years ago, including spells with Sussex men and Manchester Originals in the Hundred.This latest post is just for the New Zealand series initially but may continue through the summer
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