Source: The Guardian

How a child’s food preferences begin in the womb

Tests have shown that what a woman eats during her pregnancy is easily detectable in her amniotic fluid, and the foetus develops a taste for familiar flavours

It may be a survival mechanism that’s come back to bite us on the bum, but human beings are born to love sweets. We love them even when we’re in the womb. Some 15 to 16 weeks after conception, foetuses will show their sugar appreciation by swallowing more amniotic fluid when it’s sweet, and less when bitter. Penchants for salt and umami tastes are also innate. Most of our food preferences, however, are learned, and a growing body of research shows that this learning also begins before birth.