Fetuses pout when their mother eats cabbage and smile when they eat carrots. With 4D images, they verified that before birth they already appreciate the flavors
Even in their mother’s womb, fetuses react differently to different smells and tastes.
This was verified by a group of researchers at the University of Durham, UK. They performed 4D ultrasounds on 100 pregnant women to see how their babies responded to two different foods: carrots and kale.
Fetuses exposed to carrots showed a smile more often, while fetuses exposed to kale almost always pouted. The top image of this report is an actual 4D ultrasound of a fetus reacting to its mother’s dose of kale. However, this is the smile that appears when exposure is to carrots:
Reaction of a fetus to the taste of carrots. Image: FETAP (Fetal Taste Preferences) Study, Fetal and Neonatal Research Laboratory, University of Durham
Humans experience taste through a combination of taste and smell. In fetuses, it is believed that this can happen by inhaling and ingesting amniotic fluid in the uterus.
The volunteers were mothers, aged 18 to 40 years, in the 32nd to 36th week of pregnancy.
They received a single capsule containing approximately 400 mg of carrot or 400 mg of kale powder about 20 minutes before each exam. They were instructed not to consume flavored foods or drinks one hour before the exams.
Exposure to a small amount of carrots or kale was enough for the fetuses to react, smile or make tearful faces.
The study aims to find out when human taste and smell receptors develop, that is, at what point we start to like or dislike what we smell or taste, and they found that this occurs before we come into contact with the outside world. .
The researchers also believe that what pregnant women eat can influence babies’ taste preferences after birth and potentially have implications for establishing healthy eating habits.
The study was published in the journal psychological science.
Beyza Ustun, a postgraduate researcher at the Fetal and Neonatal Research Laboratory in the Department of Psychology at the University of Durham, explains: it is the first to look at these reactions before birth.”
They have now started a follow-up study with the same babies after birth to see if the influence of the flavors they experience in the womb affects the acceptance of different foods.
Research co-author Professor Jackie Blissett from the University of Aston explains: “It could be argued that repeated exposures to prenatal tastes can lead to preferences for tastes experienced after birth. In words, exposing the fetus to less “rich” flavors like kale can mean getting them used to those flavors before they are born.
The next step is to examine whether fetuses show fewer ‘negative’ responses to these flavors over time, which can be understood as a greater acceptance of food at birth.
