This Trendy Diet May Help Protect Babies Against Stress From the Womb: Study

There’s been lots of talk lately of what babies should — and shouldn’t — consume early in life.

Now, here’s another suggestion. A new study proposes that infants weaned off breastfeeding should eat a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet to protect themselves from psychological and developmental conditions that may arise from stress in the womb.

“We discovered that feeding young rats a ketogenic diet — a high‑fat, very low‑carbohydrate regimen — right after weaning almost completely protected them from the lasting effects of stress they’d experienced before birth,” lead researcher Alessia Marchesin of the University of Milan in Italy said in a statement.

“The diet seems to have acted like a shield for their developing brains, so preventing social and motivational problems from ever taking root.”

To come to this conclusion, the researchers stressed pregnant rats just before they delivered.

Their offspring were weaned 21 days after birth and given a keto diet — staples include meat, fish, low-carb vegetables, eggs, healthy fats like avocado and olive oil — or a control diet. (Read more from “This Trendy Diet May Help Protect Babies Against Stress From the Womb: Study” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr