Maternal eating habit determines the future of child's mental and physical health.
A team of researchers from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York found higher consumption of food rich with the nutrient choline during pregnancy preventing and reducing the risk of child developing hypertension and diabetes later in life.
Choline is a vital nutrient required for the proper development of brain cells. Egg yolk, beef liver, pork, chicken, milk, soybeans, peanuts, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce, oranges and bananas are some dietary sources rich with the choline. The recommended daily intake of choline is 450 milligram.
Researchers found a higher choline intake helping to lower cortisol levels, thus preventing a series of mental and health problems associated with high cortisol levels.
"We hope that our data will inform the development of choline intake recommendations for pregnant women that ensure optimal fetal development and reduce the risk of stress-related diseases throughout the life of the child," Dr. Marie A. Caudill, associate professor of nutritional sciences, said in a statement.
The findings were based on a 12 week experiment conducted by Caudill and team on pregnant women. All the participants were in their third trimester of pregnancy. The total participants were divided into two groups- one receiving 480 mg choline per day and another 930 mg.
Samples of maternal blood, cord blood and placenta tissue were collected to measure the level of cortisol in the blood. Results showed high choline intake reducing cortisone levels.
According to the investigators choline altered the expression patterns of genes involved in cortisol production.
"The study findings raise the exciting possibility that a higher maternal choline intake may counter some of the adverse effects of prenatal stress on behavioral, neuroendocrine and metabolic development in the offspring," Caudill said in a statement.
The findings will appear in the August 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal.
"Depending on the relationship, one's mother can either produce stress or relieve it," Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of The FASEB Journal, said. "This report shows that her effect on stress begins even before birth. The importance of choline cannot be overstated as we continue to unravel the role it plays in human health and development."
