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If the taste of kale makes you screw up your face, you are not alone: researchers have observed foetuses pull a crying expression when exposed to the greens in the womb.
While previous studies have suggested our food preferences may begin before birth and can be influenced by the mother’s diet, the team says the new research is the first to look directly at the response of unborn babies to different flavours.
“[Previously researchers] just looked at what happens after birth in terms of what do [offspring] prefer, but actually seeing facial expressions of the foetus when they are getting hit by the bitter or by the non-bitter taste, that is something which is completely new,” said Prof Nadja Reissland, from Durham University, co-author of the research.
Writing in the journal Psychological Science, the team noted that aromas from the mother’s diet were present in the amniotic fluid. Taste buds can detect taste-related chemicals from 14 weeks’ gestation, and odour molecules can be sensed from 24 weeks’ gestation.
To delve into whether foetuses differentiate specific flavours, the team looked at ultrasound scans from almost 70 pregnant women, aged 18 to 40 from the north-east of England, who were split into two groups. One group was asked to take a capsule of powdered kale 20 minutes before an ultrasound scan, and the other was asked to take a capsule of powdered carrot. Vegetable consumption by the mothers did not differ between the kale and carrot group.
www.theguardian.com
While previous studies have suggested our food preferences may begin before birth and can be influenced by the mother’s diet, the team says the new research is the first to look directly at the response of unborn babies to different flavours.
“[Previously researchers] just looked at what happens after birth in terms of what do [offspring] prefer, but actually seeing facial expressions of the foetus when they are getting hit by the bitter or by the non-bitter taste, that is something which is completely new,” said Prof Nadja Reissland, from Durham University, co-author of the research.
Writing in the journal Psychological Science, the team noted that aromas from the mother’s diet were present in the amniotic fluid. Taste buds can detect taste-related chemicals from 14 weeks’ gestation, and odour molecules can be sensed from 24 weeks’ gestation.
To delve into whether foetuses differentiate specific flavours, the team looked at ultrasound scans from almost 70 pregnant women, aged 18 to 40 from the north-east of England, who were split into two groups. One group was asked to take a capsule of powdered kale 20 minutes before an ultrasound scan, and the other was asked to take a capsule of powdered carrot. Vegetable consumption by the mothers did not differ between the kale and carrot group.
Taste of kale makes unborn babies grimace, finds research
First study to look at facial responses of foetuses to tastes shows crying expression twice as likely for kale than carrot
