Taijiao (Foetal Education)

Taijiao (literally foetal education) – the premise that maternal behaviour will affect the health and future development of her child – has been taught in Chinese culture for at least two thousand years. It is only fairly recently, however, that modern research has confirmed this to be so. This article looks at the ideas behind taijiao and the evidence for the influence of maternal emotional states, diet and exercise on the lifetime health of the individual.