Althouse: "Bad Eating Habits Start in the Womb."

December 2, 2013

"Bad Eating Habits Start in the Womb."

According to the NYT.

I'm choosing to post this now because I believe in the value of the unborn comments within you readers.

36 comments:

Seeing Red said...: No more soy lattes for you!; 12/2/13, 3:22 PM
n.n said...: Fortunately, human beings are capable of overcoming their bad habits. Unfortunately, they are also capable of overcoming their good habits.

That said, has The New York Times always been aware of the eating and other habits of human life before birth? This could mark the beginning of a moral revolution, signaling a fundamental change in their perception of human life.; 12/2/13, 3:26 PM
Ron said...: How do those little buggers get Cheetos in there?; 12/2/13, 3:41 PM
Alexander said...: Heh - no chance.

I'm betting the NYT takes the position that pro-choice is good, but proles should have their diets decided for them because it's good for the unborn children.

Remember, for the Grey Lady, the progressive always wins.; 12/2/13, 3:51 PM
Rumpletweezer said...: We need to get court orders so these unhealthy eaters can be removed from the womb and placed in protective custody.; 12/2/13, 3:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Score 1 for Obamacare: Getting rid of the little bad habit bugger is free.; 12/2/13, 4:06 PM
Ambrose said...: So the nanny state should dictate nutritional standards for the unborn before the nanny state can dictate a right to life for the unborn.; 12/2/13, 4:12 PM
Jay Patrick said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/2/13, 4:14 PM
n.n said...: I know. I know. They are nothing if not selective. Still, it's kind of fun to poke them when they expose their belly, and hear them giggle in that amusing dough-boy way. I will withhold the scalpel, for now. Let's keep it fun.; 12/2/13, 4:32 PM
Jay Patrick said...: I...I can't do it. I'm not sure what to say.

PUSH!!!

Something about...something about fetuses being thievish by nature. Original sin. Bad habits. Naughty by nature. Damnit, I don't know!

COME ON, PUSH!!

I can't. It's just not funny. I'm too tired. Please, I have nothing to say. I need a beer. Maybe...maybe a beer would help me get it out.

WE DON'T HAVE BEER. NOW, PUSHHHH!!!

Argghghgh; 12/2/13, 4:41 PM
rhhardin said...: Wm Kerrigan says that the MSM is today's organizer of anxieties.

What the experts claim to know is what your true concerns should be.

somewhere...

ah

`Not long ago thrillers and murder mysteries were mostly about criminals with distinct motives. Now they feature the serial killer. Unlike the murderer who killed, fulfilled his purpose, and hoped to remain innocuous, the inexorable serial killer with his open-ended string of crimes hopes to become famous as a source of anxiety. News broadcasts, themselves great organizers of anxiety, regularly contain health segments in which the public is invited to become anxious about what it eats, what it buys, how it seeks pleasure. One set of experts steps forth to inculcate anxiety, another to teach us how to live with it. What do those in the know actually know? They always claim to know where our true concerns should lie. ''; 12/2/13, 4:43 PM
techsan said...: Ok...so...let me get the math right. To be a leftie, you have to agree with this...that a baby's nutrition and future is tied to what the mom's choice of food. So she's "good" if she eats healthy...for the baby's sake. But. Oh...and what a caveat. If the mom, chooses to evacuate that same...mass of tissue...then...she's also good. Because that mass of tissue is both a baby and not a baby. So 1 = !1. 1=0. Ok...got it. Makes total sense.; 12/2/13, 4:49 PM
rhhardin said...: I can listen to a random series of Radio Derb (John Derbyshire) broadcasts selected to end at a given time.

Today's "play derb until 18:00:00" included the March 22, 2007 one, which has the nice line, quote

Senator Obama has been pushing himself as the candidate who's going to rescue us from all that unpleasant political snarling and sniping, lift us up to a higher level of national consciousness, unite us in glorious harmony, purify our national life, cure the common cold, and all the rest of that kind of political claptrap that will get you sixty percent of the female vote and five percent of the male one.

Amen.; 12/2/13, 4:59 PM
Deirdre Mundy said...: Weird how a clump of tissue can develop emotional attachments to things that last a lifetime, huh?; 12/2/13, 5:33 PM
Paddy O said...: Original sin.; 12/2/13, 6:02 PM
Henry said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/2/13, 8:19 PM
Henry said...: Weird. I can't find any information about this study anywhere, including on Monell's web site.

There is this older study:

Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants

Perhaps there was a follow-up? It would seem the most likely scenario. But where's the study? The press release?

In any case, the study makes sense to me. Not sure what society can do about it. I don't see the corn lobby going anywhere soon.; 12/2/13, 8:31 PM
Deirdre Mundy said...: This study will just accentuate the obesity gap.

The same parents who do yoga and play prenatal Mozart and carefully avoid anything that could poison the womb environment will also make sure to expose their unborn heirs to a wide variety of healthy foods and to cultivate foodie tendencies before birth.

Meanwhile, the same mothers who spend pregnancy smoking and watching soap operas will also expose their unborn children to twinkies and cheetos.

We clearly need federal funding to close the gap... maybe junk food mandates for wealthy mothers?; 12/2/13, 8:49 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Oh, man. Where to start?

Another recent study conducted at the FoodPlus research center at the University of Adelaide in South Australia found that exposure to a maternal junk food diet (defined in the study as any food that was energy dense, highly palatable and had a high fat content) results in children with a preference for these same foods.

Right. I'm supposed to trust a study that treats the boti gosht I made last week as "junk food." They're marinated pork kebabs, basically -- "energy dense" as in full of protein and carbs (assuming you eat them with rice), "high fat content" -- well, they are cooked with oil -- and, oh, what was the third qualifier? Oh. "Highly palatable." Guilty! I'm an official junk food purveyor.

All we need now is for KATU's "Dirty Dining" crew to descend on my kitchen, so as to confirm that I'm an unsanitary junk food purveyor.; 12/2/13, 8:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Pre-birth universal health-care!; 12/2/13, 8:54 PM
David said...: About the author:

"Kristin Wartman, a journalist, is writing a book on how the industrial food system is changing our minds, bodies and culture."; 12/2/13, 9:14 PM
David said...: Also:

"
Kristin Wartman is a food writer living in Brooklyn. She has a Masters in Literature from UC Santa Cruz and is a Certified Nutrition Educator. She is interested in the intersections of food, health, politics, and culture. You can read more of her writing at kristinwartman.wordpress.com."; 12/2/13, 9:17 PM
David said...: Google "Certified Nutrition Educator" and you will have difficulty finding out who does the certifying and what the criteria are. A masters in literature probably is not the core competency.

You will also see the incredible array of nutritional certification schemes and programs being offered by numerous (and often obscure) schools and organizations.

It's a diploma mill of gigantic proportions, to use a food metaphor.; 12/2/13, 9:28 PM
David said...: The certification seems to come from "National Institute of Whole Health" based in Wellesley, Mass.

They have quite a slick web site, with lots of bzzzzzzz words.

They are also ecstatic about the future of their programs, and tout the hundreds of millions of dollars a year that are going to be required by new federal mandates under Obamacare for "wellness programs."

More feeding at the (mandated) federal trough.

Just how well to you supposed these brig trams will be designed? And supervised? By the feds?

Hoooo, boy.; 12/2/13, 9:51 PM
Titus said...: Julie Mennella, a biopsychologist and researcher at the Monell Center....spoke at my company recently.

I am all into public policy now....but only nonpartisan and rigorous research.

How fab am I?

tits.; 12/2/13, 10:13 PM
Gahrie said...: By the way...just what is doing the "eating in the womb" since one has to be alive to eat?; 12/2/13, 11:09 PM
Gahrie said...: Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants

How can human infants learn flavor before birth if there is no human before birth?; 12/2/13, 11:12 PM
zefal said...: If I sign up for obamacare I'll have maternity coverage so this topic is right up my sunken enchilada. For you gringos that's like an Elvis fried peanut butter and banana smothered in butter sandwich.; 12/2/13, 11:18 PM
n.n said...: Gahrie:

Spontaneous conception. It's dogma from a replacement theology.; 12/2/13, 11:21 PM
Laura said...: If only the pharmaceutical reps would bring lunch to Planned Parenthood so they could lower that pesky overhead and be free of federal funding...

Would be interesting to find out if addictions started there too, after energy drinks and vodka spawn their progeny...; 12/3/13, 1:20 AM
PB said...: My response just can't make it out.; 12/3/13, 7:31 AM
Illuninati said...: If the mother has gestational diabetes that obviously affects the metabolism of the fetus. Beyond that I'm not sure how the mother's food choices would influence the baby. Perhaps the baby would adjust to different level of fats in the blood. If that were the case it would relate hunger to much more than mere calorie intake.

The part about how childhood eating habits and childhood obesity lead to fat adults is on much firmer ground since the tendency to obesity is difficult or impossible to reverse once it is activated. Lifestyle changes early in life are much more effective.; 12/3/13, 8:36 AM
Temujin said...: Bad reading habits start in the womb. What is your mom reading?; 12/3/13, 10:54 AM
TMink said...: Flawed study based on debunked definitions of junk food. This is old "science" of fat being bad instead of the accurate carb intolerance model.

Trey; 12/3/13, 11:31 AM
jaed said...: junk food diet (defined in the study as any food that was energy dense, highly palatable and had a high fat content)

That's another way of saying "highly nutritious". So they're saying that infants have a preference for the most nutritious foods available in their area.

This makes sense from an evo-bio perspective; you'd want children to be interested in the most nutritious available food, since it would be a problem if they had a distate for it. I'm not sure why it's supposed to be a bad thing.; 12/3/13, 3:04 PM
Sam L. said...: Pregnant moms are GUILTY!; 12/3/13, 8:15 PM