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Bacon: It Does a Baby Good
Bacon=Healthy Eating?
I’m a nice Jewish girl, but I love bacon. And now it turns out that eating bacon while pregnant might have boosted my daughters’ developing brains.
New research from the University of North Carolina suggests that bacon might be healthy for developing fetuses. How is that possible? Apparently, like many meat products, bacon has high levels of a molecule called choline (usually classified as one of the B vitamins).
Researchers found that when they fed choline to pregnant lab mice pregnant, their babies’ brains developed differently than regular the offspring of the mice who weren’t fed choline, according to Republic of Bacon.com.
The babies whose mothers ingested choline developed larger hippocampuses, which is said to indicate better memory.
“In other words, eating choline helped these mice offspring – and could help your baby – develop a better memory,” according to Republic of Bacon.com.
Our study in mice indicates that the diet of a pregnant mother, especially choline in that diet, can change the epigenetic switches that control brain development in the fetus,” said Stephen Zeisal, one of the scientists involved in the study. In other words, it’s possible that eating bacon while pregnant could make your baby smarter.
A low choline diet can cause birth defects and improper brain development or premature birth.
Choline seems to be a miracle molecule. It is said to also protect against other medical problems (heart attacks, liver disease). But, don’t take this as permission to eat as much bacon as you want.
And we hope it goes without saying, that you’ll discuss these findings with your doctor. Also, note: there is no suggestion that you should feed your baby bacon (although there is a bacon-flavored baby formula on the market). My colleague Monica at Being Pregnant is excited that she’s got an excuse to eat bacon!
Now if only someone would come out with research saying that eating ice cream while pregnant is good!
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photo: flickr/Chris and Jenni
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12 Comments
[...] Whoa. Duuude. An excuse to eat bacon? Not only an excuse but a solid reason to chow down on the crispy goodness? Seriously! I’m not kidding. Check this out! [...]
Eat Bacon For The Children! | Being Pregnant commented on Nov 04 10 at 5:22 pmbob commented on Nov 04 10 at 10:54 amFuture studies will reveal that all that extra memory space is filled with the following information: “I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON!I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON! I LOVE BACON!”
goddess commented on Nov 04 10 at 10:56 amAnd peanut butter Bob. Don’t forget that!
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Nov 04 10 at 11:11 amI invoke the Bacon and Chocolate rule… almost every dish can be improved with the addition of bacon or chocolate.
Penn Girl commented on Nov 04 10 at 11:14 amSoybean and soybean products, banana, barley, cauliflower, corn, flax seeds, lentils, milk, oranges, potatoes, sesame seeds, tomatoes and whole wheat are also high in choline and lower in cholesterol than bacon.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Nov 04 10 at 11:20 amBut none taste as good as bacon.
JesBelle commented on Nov 04 10 at 11:54 amSo, my pregnancy breakfast — sausage patty (from pastured pork) on a whole wheat biscuit and orange juice was pretty good baby-building material.
DMK commented on Nov 04 10 at 12:59 pmI am not surprised at all about this – with my first-born I ate bacon every morning before I found out I was pregnant. The craving was so strong! After that, I limited how much I ate, but continued to have bacon throughout the pregnancy and my son was the most alert baby with comprehension skills that were always well above other kids his age. He started speaking at 9 months and was having conversations with full sentences by 2. I could go on and on, but i won’t! With my second, I was way more careful about my diet and he was so very different – sleepy newborn, slower to talk, etc. He is a very smart kid also, but very different from his brother. When he was younger, I was so worried about him, but in fact he was a normal newborn – his brother is the one who was different. Maybe it was the bacon! Myabe it is time to go and get some bacon to benefit my third currently growing fetus!
Andrew Back Bacon commented on Nov 04 10 at 2:38 pmThanks for the mention!
@Mistress_Scorpio… oh there is a ton of other food products that contain Choline and you mentioned a lot of them. We just love bacon! :)
Elaine commented on Nov 04 10 at 4:30 pmLike Penn Girl said, choline is also found in abundance in soy, peanuts, and certain vegetables. Vegan foods, while not only cholesterol-free, they’re also better for the environment and kinder to animals.
DeltaBreeze commented on Nov 04 10 at 5:22 pmThe mice were fed choline pellets in a lab. Seems like a big jump to say bacon is good for pregnant people. Like others have said, bacon isn’t the only food product with choline. This is an old news story that keeps getting recycled. Let’s focus on something new (and healthy.)
Bram commented on Mar 13 12 at 3:17 amAmericans have consumed bacon in large aientituqs for years, yet the effects proposed in this article have not kicked in, judging by statistics, for example, that over 50% of Americans believe in creationism. How could anyone be so stupid? Perhaps the artificial chemicals from pollutants that are being found in newborns are neutralizing any alleged brain benefits from bacon or even making people dumber than ever.
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