Worried about your soon-to-be-arriving baby's intelligence? Don't worry, pregnant mothers! Gone are the days of waiting around to check if your child is, in fact, a little Einstein or not. All you have to do is eat nine eggs a day, as study reveals!
In today's generation of overly conscious parents beginning to worry about their child's future right from the moment the baby is born, it shouldn't come as a surprise that soon to be mothers would start preparing for their little geniuses from the start of their pregnancy.
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And this is where eggs arrive as a smart solution for the smart baby. Due to its high amounts of choline, eggs are able to boost infants' memories and the ability to process information. But nine eggs a day seems an unusually high amount and could even link to high cholesterol.
Ideally, it is recommended to consume only 480mg of the nutrient a day when it comes to expecting mothers, even though the study suggests double that amount is required for the optimal result.
This comes as a tough feat to achieve because apart from high cholesterol risks, pregnant mothers also stray away from too many eggs due to warnings against eating them undercooked. This has also caused many pregnant mothers to fall short of consuming even the required intake of choline.
Choline can be consumed in the form of eggs – where on average one yolk consists around 115mg of choline, and other items like red meat, fish, poultry, legumes and nuts.
In the study carried out, researchers from Cornell University analyzed 26 pregnant women in their third trimesters. Half of them consumed 480mg of choline every day until their delivery, while the rest consumed 930mg.
When the participants' babies were assessed for their information processing speed and memories at the age of four, seven, 10 and 13 months old, the ones whose mothers ate 930mg choline showed a significantly faster reaction.
Also, it was revealed that feeding a baby just one egg a day for six months helps increase youngsters' levels of the nutrients choline and DHA, significantly, both of which are involved in brain health, a study found.
It also improves their growth and prevents stunting. Lead author Lora Iannotti from the Brown School at Washington University said: "Like milk or seeds, eggs are designed to support the early growth and development of an organism and are, therefore, dense in nutrient content.
"Eggs provide essential fatty acids, proteins, choline, vitamins A and B12, selenium, and other critical nutrients at levels above or comparable to those found in other animal food products, but they are relatively more affordable."
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As is known, a person's IQ is partially determined by their memory.
Study author Marie Caudill explained this saying: "In animal models using rodents, there's widespread agreement that supplementing the maternal diet with additional amounts of this single nutrient has lifelong benefits on offspring cognitive function. Our study provides some evidence that a similar result is found in humans."
The findings were published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
