The health of mothers and their babies are undeniably connected.The food that a mother consumes during pregnancy or while she's breastfeeding makes its way to a baby's body and affects the child's health.
Brazilian agency Paim has created a bunch of graphic ads for the country's Paediatric Society of Rio Grande do Sul, or SPRS. Images of junk foods (a donut, a cup of soda, and a burger) were painted on a woman's breast while she is nursing a baby.
Check out the photos on Daily Mail. Beneath the "You Are What You Eat" tagline, the ads warn mothers: "Your habits in the first thousand days of [your child's life] can prevent your child from developing serious diseases."
Breastfeeding is generally good for babies. Breast milk is laden with vitamins, nutrients, and substances that will arm a child against diseases. Those benefits, however, will not be present if a mother isn't eating well and healthy.
Healthy Diets Help Babies Prevent Cancer
A research team led by Robert Waterland, associate professor of pediatrics and molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, found lactating and pregnant women who follow unhealthy diets could have babies that are more vulnerable to cancer. According to the study, healthy diets of pregnant mothers help babies develop a gene variant that fights the development of cancerous tumors, Time reported.
Another study conducted by researchers from Canada's University of Manitoba found that pregnant mothers who regularly drink artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda and energy drinks are more likely to have obese or overweight children. A study published in the journal Science, meanwhile, found that developing babies can inherit type 2 diabetes and obesity from their mother's unhealthy diet.
The research published in Science also discovered that diets with low-protein can result to low birth weight. The study found that mothers who follow low-protein diets tend to give birth to babies that are 25 percent lighter.
Pregnancy Foods: What You Should And Shouldn't Avoid
Aside from artificially sweetened beverages, pregnant women are also advised to avoid unpasteurized food, unpasteurized milk, cheese, cookie dough or cake batter, raw shellfish, raw or undercooked meat, ice cream, fish with high levels of mercury, and deli-style meat and poultry, FoodSafety.gov listed.
Healthy foods that both mothers and babies need are oily fish like sardines, Greek yogurt, spinach, eggs, lentils, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and avocados, according to Mother & Baby. These foods contain vitamins and minerals that are good for the developing baby's brain.
