Tell Tchaikovsky the news. Do you know how some people play classical music or foreign language tapes for their babies while still in the womb? Supposedly it helps the children develop their musical and language abilities later on. Well, there is a fairly new theory called prenatal flavor learning that follows the same line of reasoning.
The theory postulates that mothers can influence their kid's food preferences later in life by consuming a wide range of foods while pregnant. Sure enough, the flavors and odors of foods appear in the amniotic fluid and breast milk. And taste receptor cells appear at 4 months (see right.) So, "with flavor learning, you can train a baby's palate with repetitive exposure," says midwife Kim Trout.
This method holds great promise for teaching kids to learn to eat healthier foods, like fruits and vegetables, which might, in turn, help with the alarming childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics. Of course, mom has to make good choices. Which reminds me of the iconic scene of Mia Farrow scarfing down raw meat for her devil-baby in Rosemary's Baby.
Kids, because of evolutionary reasons, will always like sweet( energy-laden) and salty( mineral-laden) foods. But, it seems we can make some progress even before the child sees the light of day. Just beware of the neighbors.
Rosemary: "What's in the drink?" Mrs. Castavet: " Oh, snips and snails and puppy dog tails" ROSEMARY'S BABY
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