Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
It turns out that kids are not the only ones picky about vegetables. Fetuses between 32 and 36 weeks gestation can also appear to grimace over kale and smile for carrots, according to a small study out of the U.K. that examines how fetuses react to flavours.
The peer-reviewed paper, published in Psychological Science, looks at fetal chemosensory reactivity and found that fetal facial movements could be detected within 30 minutes of the parent taking just a single, 400 mg dose of powdered carrot or kale in a capsule, the equivalent of about 50g of raw vegetables. These facial movements together form expressions that appear like “laughter-face” or “cry-face”.
“We think that this repeated exposure to flavours before birth could help to establish food preferences post-birth, which could be important when thinking about messaging around healthy eating and the potential for avoiding ‘food-fussiness’ when weaning,” said lead researcher Beyza Ustun with Durham University’s Department of Psychology in a statement.
This is the first longitudinal study that suggests fetuses can detect chemosensory information through the foods consumed by the parent, the authors said.
“Results of this study have important implications for our understanding of the development of human oral and nasal chemoreception, including the nature and timing of behavioral reactions to prenatal flavour exposure, fetal engagement of memory for flavours,” researchers concluded in the paper.
“It could be argued that repeated prenatal flavour exposures may lead to preferences for certain flavour profiles … Future studies need to follow up with postnatal behavioural analyses to assess how prenatal flavour exposure can exert influences on postnatal food preferences in the short and long term.”
Previous studies have shown that most molecules can cross through the placenta and that the fetuses begin sensing their environment for the first time through the amniotic fluid. Earlier research examined changes in the flavor of the amniotic fluid after ingesting different foods, or measured reactions in babies after they were born.
One earlier study found that babies had less nose wrinkling, brow lowering and head turning behaviours and expressions over carrot flavoured cereals if they had been exposed to the flavour during the third trimester of pregnancy, compared to those who had not been exposed.
In the latest study, researchers found that, within a brief period, the flavours in the capsules were digested and absorbed into the bloodstream, then metabolized, reaching fetal chemoreceptors in about half an hour.
One hundred participants between the ages of 18 and 40 from northeast England were involved in the study from 32 to 36 weeks of gestation. Researchers measured the outcome by capturing frame-by-frame fetal facial movements through real-time 4D ultrasound recordings.
Researchers found that fetuses that were exposed to the kale flavour gave increasingly more complex “cry-face” expressions as they matured, like “lower-lip depressor,” “lip stretch,” and lip presser.” Those exposed to the carrot flavor generated more “laughter-face” expressions, but the movements did not become more complex over time. The study only looked at reactions of the fetuses and does not examine whether the reaction stems from actual enjoyment or dislike of the taste.
“This contrasting result can be explained by the anatomical substrate engaged in generating laughter-face and cry-face gestalts,” the authors explained, noting that the single movement of pulling the lip corner upwards is enough to make the “laughter-face” but several different facial movements are required to create the “cry-face” expression.
There are some limitations to the study, the authors noted. Information for the control group, which was not exposed to any flavours, could not be collected at the same frequency as those taking the capsules. Facial responses by the fetuses could also be influenced by the kinds of vegetables the parent consumed normally. Another variable that could have affected results is the genetic variations in bitter taste perception and sensitivity.
Researchers are now conducting a follow-up study with the same cohort after they were born to see if their acceptance of different foods were influenced by their experiences before birth.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.