MOTHERS 'IMPROVE BABY'S MEMORY AND DEVELOPMENT' WITH EVERY PORTION OF FRUIT THEY EAT

Want intelligent children? Eat FRUIT during pregnancy: Mothers 'improve baby's memory and development' with every portion they eat.

By Colin Fernadez

Children of pregnant women who eat fruit performed better on tests, a study found 

• Each daily portion of fruit consumed increased test scores by 2.38%
• But amount of fruit the child ate made no difference to test performance  
• Suggests pathway it effects is particularly susceptible during gestation

Pregnant women who eat more fruit during pregnancy have more intelligent children, research has found.

One-year-old toddlers whose tucked into plenty of fruit ranging from bananas to berries scored highest marks in tests of their thinking skills.

But the amount of fruit in the diet of the youngsters themselves made no difference to their test marks in the tests, said the joint university report for the specialist online journal EBioMedicine (correct).

Child development experts in Canada tested 808 children aged 12 months whose mothers had taken part in a major nationwide health study during pregnancy in which they had recorded their daily routines.

They then compared the results of the tests - which looked at the infants' memory and learning capabilities - with the amount of general fruit in the women's diets over the course of pregnancy.

They found more fruit eaten during pregnancy directly correlated with better performance in the tests.

For every portion of fruit eaten, per day, by the mothers while expecting, the test results were on average 2.38 percent better.

The amount of fibre, calories, omega 3 and other aspects of pregnancy diets made no difference to the results neither did the amount of fruit eaten by the children themselves in infancy.

The researchers found similar results in a lab test on fruit flies - the more fruit they ate before giving birth, the better the offspring did in specially adapted memory tests.

Source: thedailymail.co.uk