Babies can acquire a taste for alcohol before they are born and still in them during their childhood, a study in rats suggests.
According to research published by the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience, rats exposed to alcohol in the womb drank up to twice a pound of body weight than their unexposed peers if they were offered alcohol 15 days after birth.
Doctors advise against drinking during pregnancy. If a pregnant woman drinks, she can expose her child to a chronic disease called fetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause mental retardation. Previous research has also shown that babies exposed to small amounts of alcohol in the womb tend to move toward their scent, said lead study author Steven Youngentob.
Your research may begin to explain why. This is because one learns to eat according to what the mother ate when she is in the womb, "your body believes, well, if mom ingested it, it is probably fine," concludes the researcher. The nervous systems of fetuses are exposed to what their mothers eat.
This may explain why rats whose mothers received alcohol preferred their taste and smell when they were babies and teenagers rather than their peers without fetal exposure.
Via | The new herald
