bacon and eggs while pregnant Archives

Eating a full English breakfast during pregnancy could increase a babies’ IQ, new research has found.

The study, published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, revealed that mothers who consumed eggs and bacon during the last three months of their term performed better in tests.

This, it says, is because both foods are rich in a nutrient called choline, which despite being vital during pregnancy, most women do not consume enough of.

The link between increased levels of choline and higher IQ has previously been made in mice but has now also been proven in humans.

Dividing 26 participants into two groups, half the women received 480mg/day of choline, slightly more than the adequate intake level of 450mg/day, and the other 930mg.

Researchers then tested information processing speed and visuo-spatial memory at four, seven, 10 and 13 months of age, the Mirror reports.

They recorded how long each baby took to look towards an image on the periphery of a computer screen, a measure of the time it takes for a cue to produce a motor response.