Stress during pregnancy not only affects the mother, but also might make the child more vulnerable to metabolic and chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes later in life.
But a new study by Cornell University researchers in the US suggests a simple way to protect the baby: eat more eggs.
The humble fry-up staple stands out for a particular nutrient called choline, which has been shown to play a vital role in fetal and infant brain development. It affects areas responsible for memory and learning. There are 125mg of choline per egg, all found in the yolk.
In the study, published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 24 women in the third trimester of pregnancy were randomly assigned to consume 480mg or 930mg of choline a day for 12 weeks up to delivery.
The women with the higher choline intake showed lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the placental cord and changes in cortisol-regulating genes in both the placental and fetal tissue.
'The study findings raise the exciting possibility that a higher maternal choline intake may counter some of the adverse effects of prenatal stress on behavioural, neuroendocrine and metabolic development in the offspring,' says Professor Marie Caudill, the study's author.