Diet related fetal brain development.

a new research study . . . shows that choline plays a critical role in helping fetal brains develop regions associated with memory. Choline is found in meats, including pork, as well as chicken eggs.

"Our study in mice indicates that the diet of a pregnant mother, especially choline in that diet, can change the epigenetic switches that control brain development in the fetus" said Steven Zeisel, the senior scientist involved in the work and a senior member of the FASEB Journal's editorial board. "Understanding more about how diet modifies our genes could be very important for assuring optimal development." . . .

"We may never be able to call bacon a health food with a straight face, but the emerging field of epigenetics is already making us rethink those things that we consider healthful and unhealthful," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal. "This is yet another example showing that good prenatal nutrition is vitally important throughout a child's entire lifetime."

At one time I regularly ate a concoction of lecithin and wheat bran to get dosed with inositol and choline. I could have just had eggs and whole wheat toast I suppose and gotten some perfect protein as well. And, if the eggs were from chickens that had a healthful diet of pasture bugs rich in omega-3 fatty acids then my poor old brain would have had a better chance of working well and long.

Take your gravid lady friends out to breakfast if they have a good appetite. Do it early and often.