← All episodes

Scientist REVEALS Shocking Pregnancy Research That Most Women Miss | Glucose Goddess

| 3 products mentioned
Watch on YouTube pregnancy nutrition fetal development blood glucose epigenetics choline postpartum health maternal diet

Biochemist Jesse Inchauspe, known as the Glucose Goddess, reveals how maternal nutrition during pregnancy—particularly four key nutrients—directly shapes a baby's brain development and lifelong disease susceptibility. Howes and Inchauspe discuss the surprising science showing that babies born in high-glucose environments face four times greater diabetes risk as adults, challenging the myth that mothers should "eat for two" and debunking the false belief that the placenta filters harmful nutrients.

Key takeaways
  • The four key nutrients for optimal fetal development are choline (brain formation), glucose balance (not excess), protein (babies are 50% protein at birth), and omega-3s (brain development), and 90% of pregnant women are deficient in choline despite easy access to eggs.
  • Blood glucose spikes during pregnancy transfer directly to the fetus at nearly perfect correlation, and babies born with persistently high glucose levels show increased lifetime diabetes risk—a vulnerable state that can be programmed through maternal diet.
  • The placenta is not a filter but rather transfers whatever is in the mother's bloodstream to the baby, including all nutrients and their downstream effects on gene expression and long-term health outcomes.
  • Glucose excess, not deficiency, is the pregnancy problem—mothers need only a cup and a half of rice worth of carbs at maximum (third trimester), not double calories, and excessive carb intake programs genes linked to diabetes to turn on in the baby.
  • Epigenetic switches control which genes turn on or off based on prenatal nutrition, meaning the mother's diet directly programs her baby's genetic expression and disease vulnerability independent of inherited DNA.
  • Mothers should reject guilt and recognize nutrition deprivation is a systemic food industry problem, not a personal failure, yet small "glucose hacks" like eating savory breakfasts and avoiding empty-stomach sweets can meaningfully improve both maternal and fetal outcomes.

Recommendations (1)

Choline supplements recommends

"There are great choline supplements that you can take if you don't eat any animal products. So easy."

Jesse Inchauspe · ▶ 35:10

Mentioned (2)

Glucose Goddess supplements
Glucose Goddess supplements "You've got supplements that help people if they don't want to drink vinegar. I have some of your ..." ▶ 1:11:13
Continuous glucose monitors "There's no reason for me to have come across a glucose monitor at, you know, 25 years old when I ..." ▶ 1:05:22