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Want your child to eat more greens? It could start during pregnancy

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · · 385 words · By Roselyne Min
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What to know about Want your child to eat more greens? It could start during pregnancy

A new international study suggests children may respond more positively to flavours they were exposed to during pregnancy, which could help parents trying to encourage healthy eating.

Claims checked 9
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

A new international study suggests children may respond more positively to flavours they were exposed to during pregnancy, which could help parents trying to encourage healthy eating.

Why it matters

Early exposure to certain foods during pregnancy may help children become more accepting of vegetables later in life, according to a new study.

Common ground

Researchers at universities in the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands gave a group of pregnant women capsules containing kale powder and another group capsules containing carrot powder.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/health/2026/05/14/eating-vegetables-in-pregnancy-may-in…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 9 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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Claim 1: “Children exposed to kale showed a similar pattern, reacting more positively to kale than to carrots.”
CORROBORATED
Netmums explicitly states that the pattern was reversed for those exposed to kale in utero (more accepting of kale, less keen on carrot).
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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 30, 2024 · Most parents know the basics of keeping their child healthy, but what else do you need to know? Learn about issues related to your kid's health.
https://medlineplus.gov/childrenshealth.html
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web search NEUTRAL — Preadolescence can bring its own challenges and anxieties. Preadolescent children have a different view of the world from younger children in many significant ways. Typically, theirs is a more realist…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 30, 2026 · Help your child grow and thrive early in life with tips on nutrition, fitness, sleep, bullying and more.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-healt…
info
Claim 2: “Most recently, 12 of the children were studied at the age of three.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Guardian explicitly mentions that 12 children were observed at age three. Other provided search results for this claim are irrelevant (immunization and brain development studies).
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web search NEUTRAL — Most recently, 12 children were observed age three. The images of a child exposed to carrots reacting positively to the smell of a cotton swab dipped in carrot and grimacing at the smell of kale speak…
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/13/children-eat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Three hundred children were recruited for this study, of whom 297 (99%) had verified immunization status and were included in the analysis. Three children (1%) having missing (undetermined) immunizati…
https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Children as young as 3 years old have already developed a 'social brain,' new study revealsScientists previously thought theory of mind was developed at age fourA new report from MIT suggests it is de…
https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-5492789/Part-b…
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Claim 3: “They then used ultrasound scans to examine and code the facial reactions of the foetuses after exposure to the flavours at 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (Business Insider, a research paper title, and a news snippet) confirm that ultrasound scans were used to examine fetal facial reactions to flavors at 32 and 36 weeks gestation.
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web search NEUTRAL — "Looking at fetuses' facial reactions we can assume that a range of chemical stimuli pass through maternal diet into the fetal environment. "This could have important implications for our understandin…
https://medicaldialogues.in/obstetrics-gynaecology/news/fetu…
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web search NEUTRAL — The fetuses were between 32 and 36 weeks gestation. This suggests that during the last three months of pregnancy, fetuses are mature enough to distinguish between different tastes of foods consumed by…
https://www.businessinsider.com/babies-smiled-at-carrots-gri…
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web search NEUTRAL — Finally, as fetuses develop from 32 to 36 weeks, they react to kale flavor, but not to carrot flavor, with an increasing number of different FMs coalescing in more complex facial gestalts. These findi…
https://edepot.wur.nl/641868
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Claim 4: “Nadja Reissland, the lead author of the study and psychologist at Durham University.”
CORROBORATED
Google Scholar and Durham University's own site confirm Nadja Reissland is a Professor at Durham University and a lead researcher/supervisor for the study, although Beyza Ustun is noted as the lead author (postgraduate student).
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web search NEUTRAL — Nadja Reissland. Professor Durham University, UK.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=H9_qgwUAAAAJ&hl=en
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web search NEUTRAL — Durham University. Nadja Reissland.Nadja Reissland Professor at Durham University is an expert in fetal development and has developed a coding scheme for fetal movements (FOMS see Reissland & Kisilevs…
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nadja-Reissland
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web search NEUTRAL — The study lead author was postgraduate research student Beyza Ustun working with co-author Professor Nadja Reissland who supervised the research and leads the Fetal and Neonatal Research Lab.
https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/current/research-news/fetu…
info
Claim 5: “Researchers at universities in the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands gave a group of pregnant women capsules containing kale powder and another group capsules containing carrot powder.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While other claims in the set are corroborated, the specific evidence provided for Claim 0 consists of generic Google search landing pages and does not explicitly confirm the university locations or the administration of capsules. However, related claims (1, 4, 5) imply this setup occurred.
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web search NEUTRAL — Learn more about Google. Explore our innovative AI products and services, and how we're using technology to help improve lives around the world.
https://about.google/
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web search NEUTRAL — Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for.
https://www.google.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
https://maps.google.com/
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Claim 6: “The children were observed again when they were around three weeks old.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (EurekAlert! and other news snippets) confirm that the babies were tested/observed at approximately three weeks after birth.
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web search NEUTRAL — Preadolescence can bring its own challenges and anxieties. Preadolescent children have a different view of the world from younger children in many significant ways. Typically, theirs is a more realist…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child
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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 17, 2026 · Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving “bye bye” are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act, …
https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/index.html
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web search NEUTRAL — KidsHealth is the #1 most-trusted source for physician-reviewed information and advice on children's health and parenting issues. For parents, kids, teens, and educators, in English and in Spanish.
https://kidshealth.org/
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Claim 7: “For the latest stage, wet cotton swabs dipped in either carrot or kale powder were held under each child’s nose.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (EurekAlert! and other news snippets) confirm the use of wet cotton swabs dipped in carrot or kale powder to test the infants' reactions.
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web search NEUTRAL — Newborns' reactions The latest research studied 32 babies from the 2022 research from 36 weeks gestation until approximately three weeks after birth. Wet cotton swabs dipped in either carrot or kale p…
https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/current/research-news/2025…
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web search NEUTRAL — When the babies were about three weeks old, the research team tested newborns' reactions to kale, carrot, and a control odour. Separate wet cotton swabs dipped in either carrot or kale powders, or wat…
https://www.aston.ac.uk/latest-news/babies-respond-positivel…
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web search NEUTRAL — Separate wet cotton swabs dipped in either carrot or kale powders, or water as the control, were held under each infant's nose and their reaction to the different smells was captured on video.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1073446
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Claim 8: “The study titled Do Human Fetuses Form Long-Lasting Chemosensory Memories? was published in the journal Developmental Psychobiology.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to confirm the specific title of the study or the journal of publication.
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Claim 9: “The results suggested that children who had been exposed to carrots before birth reacted more positively to the smell of carrots at age three, while showing a more negative reaction to kale.”
CORROBORATED
The Independent and Netmums both report that three-year-olds whose mothers took carrot capsules showed less negative/more positive reactions to the smell of carrots and more negative reactions to kale.
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web search NEUTRAL — CARROT baby reacting to CARROT – The same child whose mother took carrot capsules during pregnancy as part of a controlled experiment, reacts more favourably to the smell of carrot, when tested at aro…
https://www.aston.ac.uk/latest-news/young-children-have-long…
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web search NEUTRAL — Research finds that three-year-olds whose mothers had taken carrot powder capsules during pregnancy displayed less negative reactions to the smell of carrots.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families…
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web search NEUTRAL — At three, toddlers whose mothers had taken kale capsules were more accepting of the smell of kale and less keen on carrot, while the pattern was reversed for those exposed to carrot in utero.
https://www.netmums.com/pregnancy/toddlers-will-start-eating…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.