If you are pregnant and wants your baby to gain various intellectual abilities, you should eat lot of fruits, according to a study.

The University of Alberta have found that the mother who consumed fruits during the pregnancy, gave birth to children who shows better performance on developmental testing at one year of age.

Using the data from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study, a big nationwide study involving over 3,500 Canadian infants and their families, senior author Piush Mandhane made the discovery.

Mandhane explained, “We found that one of the biggest predictors of cognitive development was how much fruit moms consumed during pregnancy. The more fruit moms had, the higher their child's cognitive development.”

Piush Mandhane teaming up with another researcher Francois Bolduc, who researches the genetic basis in cognition in humans and fruit flies, believes, “combining pre-clinical models and epidemiological analysis is a novel approach that may provide useful new insights into future medical research.”

In the experiments, Bolduc showed, the flies fed with increased parental fruit juice had significant better memory quality, similar to the showings of Mandhane with 1 year old infant. He believes, “It suggests that brain function affected by fruit and the mechanisms involved have been maintained through evolution, and conserved across species.”

Even though the finding are encouraging, Mandhane cautions, “Going overboard on fruit consumption as potential complications such as gestational diabetes and high birthweight, conditions associated with increased intake of natural sugars, have not been fully researched.”

He further suggests, “Expectant mothers meet the daily intake recommended in Canada's Food Guide and consult with their doctors.”

By Prajakt K.