If you want your child to develop a taste for healthy foods, you
can start right now during your pregnancy by eating them
yourself. Food chemicals with distinct tastes and smells are
transmitted to the amniotic fluid that cushions a growing baby;
the fetus swallows this fluid and can sense the flavors. Infants
are exposed to flavors through breast milk, which reflects the
flavors of foods, spices and beverages in mothers’ diets. And
studies suggest that babies can develop a taste for those
familiar flavors when they’re exposed to them later on in solid
foods. Julie Mennella, Ph.D., a scientist at the Monell Chemical
Senses Center in Philadelphia, conducted a study in which
pregnant women planning to breastfeed were randomly assigned to
one of three groups. Women in all groups consumed 1¼ cups of
carrot juice or water four days a week for three consecutive
weeks during the last trimester of pregnancy and again during
the first two months of breastfeeding. One group consumed carrot
juice during pregnancy and wa