A balanced and nutrient-rich diet forms an integral part of a healthy lifestyle, but is regarded as playing an especially significant role during pregnancy.

Current advice to pregnant women underscores the importance of a balanced, diverse and nutrient-rich diet that includes fruits, vegetables, proteins and whole grains. Health professionals emphasize the importance of essential nutrients in supporting the natural development of an unborn babies’ brain, organs and overall well-being.

New research by Monash University – published in Nature Cell Biology – has gone even further, suggesting that pregnant women who consume apples and herbs (as part of a broader balanced diet) during early pregnancy could also be working to safeguard the brain health of their grandchildren, in addition to their unborn children.

The Research:

The recent study sought to investigate how a mother’s diet could influence ‘axons’ (the communication cables connecting nerve cells in the brain).

Using a genetic modelling system, researchers explored the relationship between maternal diet and the preservation of brain function, and found that a molecule present in apples and herbs (including basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage) helped reduce the breakdown of communication cables needed for the brain to work properly.

The key player discovered in apples and herbs was ursolic acid. Ursolic acid activates a gene that produces a specific type of fat that is crucial for the stability of the ‘communication cable’ axons. The study suggested that this specific fat (originating from the mother’s intestine where food is digested) travels to the eggs in the uterus and works to prevent potential neurodegeneration.

In doing so, the research works to legitimise the notion that a mother’s diet could have profound and potentially direct implications on intergenerational neuroprotection. More specifically, mothers who consume apples and herbs during early pregnancy may be actively safeguarding not only the immediate brain health of their children but also that of their grandchildren.

Next Steps:

While promising, the researchers acknowledged the fact that current discoveries were not based on human tests and that further studies to confirm their findings in humans would be needed. Despite this, the groundbreaking nature of the discovery highlights the potential impact of a mother’s diet not only on immediate outcomes but on the long-term neurological health of future generations.

As health professionals continue to emphasize the importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy, this research adds a new layer of understanding to the intricate relationship between maternal nutrition and the well-being of generations to come.