Experts have been telling us for as far back as we can remember that fruit is a wonder-food that carries a wealth of health benefits. Now, researchers in Canada have urged expectant mothers to up their intake, after making a very intriguing finding.
According to a new study, published this week in the journal EBioMedicine, women who eat fruit during their pregnancies could be boosting their baby’s brain development and health.
As part of the study, researchers from the University of Alberta examined the data of almost 700 children and their mothers, who had participated in a broader health study. They paid particular attention to the mothers’ questionnaire answers relating to diet, specifically fruit intake.
Then, the team tested the babies’ intellectual development at age one, focusing on their memory and attention capacities as well as their engagement with their environment.
Their findings showed that the babies of those mothers who ate fruit during their pregnancy performed better in these tests, compared to the babies of those mothers who consumed no fruit.
For the purposes of the study, one serving is the equivalent of: ½ cup of fresh fruit; ¼ cup of dried fruit; ¾ cup of 100% fruit juice.
In the case of a mum-to-be who consumed up to seven servings of fruit a day, her baby subsequently scored the same amount of extra points on the IQ scale; leading researchers to suggest that the higher the fruit intake during pregnancy, the smarter your baby will be.
The research team did, of course, take external factors such as education into account.
