If you’re sitting down to a big fry-up this morning and you’re preggo, then congratulate yourself on doing your growing foetus a favour.
Because according to a new study, eating eggs and bacon during the last three months of pregnancy can improve your baby’s IQ.
Why? Because both foods are rich in choline, a nutrient that many women don’t get enough of.
The link between increased levels of choline and higher IQ has previously been established in mice, but has only just been proven in humans.
Researchers from Cornell Universtiy divided 26 people into two groups, with half the women receiving 480mg a day of choline – slightly more than the recommended 450mg. The other group had 930mg.
Their babies were then tested for processing speed and visuospatial memory at four, seven, 10 months and 13 months.
Scientists recorded how long it look each baby to look towards an image on the edge of a computer screen to see how long it took them to produce a motor response.
And they found that the higher the levels of choline ingested by the mum, the higher the IQ of the baby.
But it’s not just beneficial to babies; Professor Marie Caudill of Cornell University says that we should be trying to get as much of this nutrient as possible throughout our lives.
‘This single nutrient has lifelong benefits,’ she says.
And if you can’t stomach the thought of a greasy fry-up in the morning or you’re plant-based, you can also get your fill of choline from nuts, broccoli and legumes.
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