Babies in the womb smiled when their mothers ate carrots but scowled when they ate kale

A new study out of England and surfaced by NBC News proves that fetuses in the womb respond very differently to different foods. Basically, they’re begging us to stop trying to make kale happen, a sentiment most of us probably share.

“The researchers gave the participating women capsules containing powdered versions of the two foods. Thirty-five women consumed the equivalent of one medium carrot, and 34 women consumed the equivalent of 100 grams of chopped kale. The remaining 30 women didn’t consume either,” reports NBC News. “Twenty minutes later, ultrasound scans showed that most of the fetuses exposed to the kale flavor seemed to grimace, while most exposed to the carrot appeared to be laughing. The control group, meanwhile, didn’t have the same responses.”

Baby smiles after it’s exposed to carrots. (Sage Journal)
Baby scowls after it’s exposed to kale. (Sage Journal)

Hmm, kale makes fetuses grimace, you say? Could that be because there is literally no way to make it edible? You can’t juice it—there’s no moisture. If you bake it, it turns to dust in your mouth when you try to eat it. Consuming it in a salad, raw, the way so many restaurants are trying to make us, acts like an intestinal broom. “Hey, sweetie! Let’s share a kale salad, then go have explosive diarrhea!” No thanks.

Nadja Reissland, a co-author of the study, told NBC News that the grimaces could just be muscle movements of the fetuses reacting to a bitter flavor and that fetuses are known to make facial expressions. But we all know that when given the option of a sweet, delicious carrot or a hunk of kale, there is only one right choice. Apologies if you are a part of the small percentage of people who have figured out how to make this nutritious green edible. No shade.

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