Good Eating Habits Begin in the Womb

by Brenna Leah Cashman, BHSc.,RNCP

    Parents have long been told that modeling proper eating habits is an important part of teaching children good nutrition.  But in fact, healthy eating habits develop long before children have a conscious awareness of what their parents are eating.  They start in the womb.

    It is not surprising that what a mother eats during pregnancy affects the health and development of the fetus.  What is particularly interesting, however, is that the quality and types of food consumed influence, and continue to influence, food preferences and health long after the baby leaves the womb.

    Consider for example, the pregnant woman who craves high fat, sugary foods.  Eating them will affect her own weight and put her at increased risk for the development of gestational diabetes.  That in itself is a good reason for limiting intake of junk food.  But another equally important reason is that excessive amounts of high fat, high sugar foods during pregnancy can actually predispose a child to become overweight later in life.

    In one study researchers discovered that when pregnant women with high blood sugar levels were left untreated, their children were 89% more likely to be overweight by ages 5 to 7 compared with children of women with normal blood sugar levels.  This suggests that what a mother eats can actually change the development of fat cells.  Some scientists go so far as to suggest that the origins of many common chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes begin in the womb.

    And it is not just health states that are impacted by a mother’s diet.  Surprisingly, it turns out that food preferences and appetite are also influenced.  Taste buds develop in the womb and the amniotic fluid picks up the odor of the food consumed by the mother.  Repeated exposure to foods while in utero helps to shape a baby’s acceptance of that food once outside the womb.

    Parents can use that knowledge to their advantage.  Want your children to eat vegetables?  Try eating lots of them while you are pregnant and breastfeeding.  One study looked at the effects of exposure to carrot juice during pregnancy or breastfeeding.  Babies who had been exposed to carrot juice in utero or through breast milk reacted more positively to carrot flavoured baby cereal than those in the control group.

    Does this mean that eating well during pregnancy guarantees that your child will eat well through out life?  Unfortunately not.  Once out of the womb children are exposed to many other influences that may negatively impact their diets.  They also come with their own set of genetically programmed food preferences.  Parents simply do not have complete control over the way their children ultimately decide to eat.  Nonetheless, parents always want to do the very best with the part of parenting that they do have control over. To that end, it is worth noting that pregnancy and breastfeeding may be the best possible time to influence a child’s lifelong eating habits and health.