Why mothers-to-be who love fry-ups have brighter babies
EXPECTANT mothers should tuck into the occasional English breakfast fry-up to boost their unborn child’s intelligence, according to research.
Scientists have discovered that a nutrient found in eggs and pork products such as bacon and sausages helps brain development.
They say the nutrient, called choline, plays a critical role in helping foetal brains develop areas linked to memory.
Choline is found in meats, including pork, as well as eggs and the scientists think a regular fry-up would be a good way for pregnant mums to get the nutrient.
The scientists fed two groups of pregnant mice different diets during the crucial time a foetus develops its hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory.
The first group received no choline while the other received the nutrient in their diets.
The mice that received no choline had genetic changes in the cells responsible for creating new brain cells. By isolating those cells from the developing brains and growing them in a cell culture, the scientists identified which proteins regulated brain-cell creation.
These proteins were changed in the brains of foetuses whose mothers were fed low-choline diets.
Nutrition expert Dr Steven Zeisel, who led the research at the University of North Carolina in the US, said: “Our study in mice indicates that the diet of a pregnant mother, especially choline in that diet, can change the epigenetic [cell-affecting] switches that control brain development in the foetus. Understanding more about how diet modifies our genes could be very important for assuring optimal development.”
The research is published in the latest journal of the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Dr Gerald Weissmann, editor of the journal, said: “We may never be able to call bacon a health food with a straight face, but the emerging field of epigenetics is already making us rethink those things that we consider healthful and unhealthful. This is yet another example showing that good pre-natal nutrition is vitally important throughout a child’s entire lifetime.”
Nutrition experts at the US Agriculture Research Service already recommend men and women take choline, either as a health supplement or from meat, nuts and eggs.
Women should take 425 milligrammes a day, while men’s daily intake should be 550 milligrammes.
