A minireview of effects of maternal diet during pregnancy on postnatal vegetable consumption: Implications for future research (a new hypothesis) and recommendations

The flavor of the maternal diet is transferred to the amniotic fluid and in this way the amniotic fluid becomes a transmitter of flavor-related information, developing babies can perceive in uterus. We aimed to review the available evidence regarding the impact of prenatal exposure to flavor on postnatal vegetable-related eating behavior. Studies of our focus have been the ones that have ad hoc examined the association of prenatal experience with vegetable-related flavors with vegetable consumption in children. We have identified that some studies have found this association, against others. Particularly, the first group of studies found an increased vegetable intake at weaning and late childhood associated with prenatal flavor exposure. The second set, instead, did not find this association of variables at early childhood. We propose here that the vegetable type used in these last studies might explain this disparity of results, and suggest the following hypothesis to be tested in the future: prenatal exposure to nonbitter vegetables leads to an increased vegetable consumption at early childhood in comparison to prenatal exposure to bitter vegetables, postnatal exposure to vegetables and no exposure. The experimental design of this hypothesis as well as subsequent recommendations for future research and maternal diet are also here suggested.

母体饮食的风味物质可传递至羊水，借此羊水成为风味相关信息的载体，使发育中的胎儿能够在子宫内感知这些风味。本研究旨在梳理现有相关证据，探讨产前风味暴露对子代产后蔬菜相关进食行为的影响。我们聚焦于那些专门检验产前蔬菜风味暴露与儿童蔬菜摄入之间关联的研究。现有研究中，部分研究证实了二者存在关联，而另一部分则未发现此关联。具体而言，第一类研究发现，产前风味暴露与断奶期及童年后期的蔬菜摄入量增加存在关联；第二类研究则未在幼儿阶段发现这两个变量间的关联。我们认为，后一类研究中所使用的蔬菜品类差异或可解释这一结果分歧，并提出待未来验证的假说：相较于产前接触苦味蔬菜、产后接触蔬菜或未接触蔬菜的情况，产前接触非苦味蔬菜可提升幼儿时期的蔬菜摄入量。本文同时提出了该假说的实验设计方案，以及未来相关研究与母体饮食调整的建议。