Pregnant women who struggle with morning sickness, for them fried egg and bacon may not sound like an ideal breakfast. But according to researchers pregnant women who tuck into a customary sauté with these constituents could protect their new born’ from birth defects.
Choline is a nutrient which is found in yolk of eggs, bacon and green and leafy vegetables is essential for the healthy development of the foetus’s brain. If the diet of pregnant women do not include sufficient amount of choline, then foetus’s brain grows a small number of blood vessels that can put the baby at risk of memory and learning difficulties.
Choline is a crucial nutrient which helps brain cells to grow and work accurately. It is associated with the nutrients in vitamin B family and found in eggs, bacon, kidney, liver, spinach, cauliflower and wheat germ. Earlier study have shown that it defends from liver diseases and help in lowering cholesterol. Most people get abundance of choline from food.
One in four women is choline deficient. Researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill premeditated the effects of choline on pregnant mice. Three groups of mice were fed with a normal diet, a choline-deficient diet and a diet with choline nutrients and inspected their pups’ brains.
The result of study showed that mice those mother fed with little choline in their diet had fewer blood vessels in brain than mice on regular diet. The development of new blood vessels called angiogenesis is essential for growing brains. If a growing foetus has a small number of blood vessels, then brain will not develop properly.
The finding could have great importance of individuals. Pregnant who have the lowest levels of choline are four times prone to have a baby with a birth defect compared to women who eat the most, said study leader Dr Steven Zeisel. Around half of young women have a hereditary make-up which signifies that they need more choline while pregnant to protect their babies.