Expecting moms everywhere do their best to eat right, and stay healthy while counting down the days until delivery. However, new research has found that eating fruit isn’t just part of a healthy, balanced diet for pregnant women…it may help to boost your baby’s intelligence in the long run!
A diligent research team from the University of Alberta found that each additional daily serving of fruit that pregnant women consumed corresponded with an increase in cognitive scores for their children one year after birth. The comprehensive study, published in the journal EBioMedicine in April, analyzed data from 688 children in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development, or Child, study.
The findings are preliminary at the moment, though. Researchers claim that they are best regarded as a suggestion for future studies on mammals and in randomized human trials.
In any case, the study unveils some rather interesting and intriguing discoveries for expecting mommies. As a matter of fact, only one other food—fish—has been linked to enhanced cognitive development in normal, healthy offspring, experts say.
Image: iStock
Co-author of the study, Piush Mandhane, an associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Alberta, says he was rather nonplussed by the results. So much so that he sought out his peers to run through the findings. With the use of fruit flies–which are often used in experiments to model learning and memory–his peers attempted a similar study; these tests yielded similar results.
“[W]e don’t want pregnant women to go out and eat a tremendous amount of fruit,” Dr. Mandhane warns. “It’s a single study, and we haven’t looked at the health effects of increased fruit intake.”
So, as it stands, there isn’t enough concrete evidence to support the claim that fruit leads to substantial cognitive improvement in children. That said, adding a couple of pieces of fruit to your daily intake won’t do any harm, expecting mommies!
[H/T] The Wall Street Journal
If you’re interested in learning fun, new ways to complete fruits into your daily diet, check out this informative video!
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