Women who eat high levels of fruit during pregnancy may have more intelligent babies, a new study has said.
Researchers in Canada tested the development of 808 children aged one year, and compared results with the mother’s fruit consumption during pregnancy.
Pregnant mothers who ate six or seven servings of fruit or fruit juice a day had children that had higher IQ results at age one than children of mothers who ate no fruit, according to the study.
Every portion of fruit eaten per day by the mother improved test results, the study found, while the amount of fruit in the child’s own diet made no difference. The report was published in the online journal EBioMedicine by researchers from Canada’s University of Alberta.
'We found that one of the biggest predictors of cognitive development was how much fruit mothers consumed during pregnancy. The more fruit they had, the higher their child's cognitive development,” said lead author, Piush Mandhane.
Researchers controlled for other factors that could influence a child’s IQ score, such as parental income and education level.
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