Associations between Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy and Neurodevelopment in Children

Neurodevelopmental disorders are complex and multifactorial disorders with difficult diagnosis and treatment. Maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy may play important roles in neurodevelopment. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy on neurodevelopment of children.

This study was carried out as a sub-study of the Prospective Epidemiological  Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN) Birth Cohort. Overall, 214 mother-child pairs participated in the present study. Dietary patterns were assessed by 90-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Neurodevelopment outcomes were assessed by child behavior check list (CBCL) and ages and stages questionnaires (ASQ).

In syndromic scale of CBCL, western diets at first trimester increased the risk of emotional disorders (p = 0.045). At third trimester, significant negative relationships were seen between the healthy diets and sleep disorders (p = 0.047), fatty diets and sleep and internalizing disorders (p = 0.017 and 0.012, respectively), western diets and sleep and total problems (p = 0.026 and 0.046, respectively). In scales based on diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM), positive relationships were reported between the unhealthy diets and anxiety disorders (p = 0.049).

Results indicated that maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy might affect the neurodevelopmental outcomes of children. Further studies to identify associations between dietary patterns and neurodevelopment are needed.