How Pregnancy Stress Can Affect the Diet of the Child
According to new research
from Michele Belot, professor in the Department of Economics, maternal exposure
to stress during pregnancy could have long-term detrimental effects on their
children's diets, and thus on health conditions related to diets - such as
increased levels of obesity and obesity-related diseases.
According to Belot, who
holds a joint appointment in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and
College of Arts and Sciences, "being exposed to stressful events while
pregnant seems to impact the dietary preferences and diet of the children in a
negative way, and for reasons that are aside from what the mother is eating
herself." Therefore, it follows that we must consider ways to assist
pregnant women in managing their stress that is beneficial for the mother and
child."
Belot and her co-authors
found that higher than average stress during pregnancy is associated with
significantly fewer healthy food preferences for their children as well as a
weaker preference for sour and bitter foods in their paper, "Maternal
stress during pregnancy and children's diet: Evidence from a population of low
socioeconomic status."
According to the authors,
Nicoli Vitt (University of Bristol), Martina Vecchi (Penn State), and Jonathan
James, stress during pregnancy "could have long-term detrimental effects
on the next generation in terms of a less healthy diet and subsequent health
implications associated with these effects, such as higher rates of obesity and
obesity-related diseases" (University of Bath). "As a result, we
support greater research into figuring out what causes maternal stress and how
much it can be changed. To create preventative strategies to enhance public
health, prenatal care and preconception counselling may be essential.
213 low socioeconomic
class women with kids between the ages of 2 and 12 who resided in Colchester,
England, were chosen by the study's researchers. Through retrospective
self-reporting, their degree of stress throughout pregnancy was evaluated. They
specifically asked mothers if they had gone through any of the following during
their pregnancy: the death of a close relative or friend, changes or
difficulties in their relationship, legal issues, changes or difficulties in
their family life, health issues, changes or difficulties in their or their
spouse's employment, changes in their habits, or any other potentially
stressful events.
Mothers were asked to
rate each stressor's level of intensity on a scale of one to ten.
Next, the researchers
looked at how healthy each participant's youngest child's diet was. The child's
preferences for the five basic flavours of sour, salty, umami, bitter, and
sweet were also investigated.
According to their
findings, there is "a sizable negative connection between in utero
exposure to stress and the child's diet and food preferences." They
discovered, more particularly, that a child's preference for sour and bitter
foods was inversely correlated with prenatal exposure to stress.
The mother's diet, either
before or after the pregnancy, does not seem to have any influence on this
outcome.
To try and lessen the
stress that individuals deal with daily, Belot is a strong supporter of
policies that are focused on assisting people with well-being and mental health
programmes. "Stress is bad for a lot of things, and I've written a couple
of papers about it before.
Low-income pregnant women
might not have access to a stable workplace with excellent mental health and
wellness initiatives. Therefore, putting them through community-based
initiatives might be advantageous. Adding mental health and wellbeing
programmes could be very beneficial because there are currently a lot of local
and community groups in the UK that work to support low-income families. It
would be best if we could find more ways to assist and encourage expectant
women.