The nutritional advantages of kale are widely established. However, the flavor may be unpleasant for certain people. It turns out that adults aren’t the only ones who believe this. Unborn newborns frowned when their mothers ate this green vegetable, according to a research done at Durham University in England.
“A lot of studies have shown that newborns may taste and smell in the womb, but they are based on post-birth outcomes, whereas our work is the first to detect these reactions before to birth,” explains Beyza Ustun, postgraduate researcher at Durham University’s Fetal and Neonatal Research Lab. The researchers used 4D ultrasound imaging on 100 pregnant women to see how their unborn kids reacted to different items their moms ate.
The fetuses appeared to respond with happy smiles that resembled laughing after the pregnant ladies ate carrots. In contrast, when their moms ate kale, fetuses appeared to be grimacing in dislike. It is thought that fetuses may taste these tastes by breathing and ingesting amniotic fluid in the womb. “It was truly great to watch the reactions of unborn infants to kale or carrot tastes during the scans and share those moments with their parents,” Uston says. “We believe that frequent exposure to tastes before birth may assist to build post-natal food preferences, which may be significant when considering messaging surrounding healthy eating and the possibility for reducing ‘food-fussiness’ while weaning.”
The findings of this study were reported in the journal Psychological Science.
According to a recent study, unborn fetuses grimace when their moms consume kale.
h/t: [The Guardian, Science Alert]
Leave a Reply