Pregnancy diet and associated outcomes in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.
Emmett PM, Jones LR, Golding J. (2015) Nutr Rev. 73 Suppl 3 154-74. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuv053.
Web URL: View this and related abstracts via PubMed here. Free full text of this article is available online
Abstract:
All publications covering diet during pregnancy that stemmed from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were reviewed. Diet was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Socioeconomic background, maternal mental health, and the health and development of the offspring were assessed using a variety of methods, such as direct measurement, self-completion questionnaires, and assays of biological samples.Differences in diet, including specific food and nutrient intakes and dietary patterns, were associated with maternal educational attainment, smoking habits, and financial difficulty.
There were marginal intakes, compared with recommendations, of the key nutrients iron, magnesium, potassium, and folate. Maternal diet during pregnancy was predictive of offspring diet during childhood.
There were independent associations between prenatal fish consumption and lower frequency of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms, as well as lower frequency of intrauterine growth retardation. Consistent evidence that fish consumption during pregnancy benefited the neurocognitive development of the child was also found. Two constituents of fish, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and iodine, were associated with these benefits in children.
The findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children strengthen the recommendation to eat fish regularly during pregnancy.
FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) - also known as the 'Children of the 90s' study - is a birth cohort study, which has collected an extraordinarly comprensive set of data relevant to health, wellbeing and child development - including information on diet.The initial study sample involved over 14,000 pregnant women, recruited from a region in the south-west UK in the early 1990s; and they, their children (and now grandchildren) and partners where possible have been followed up regularly ever since.
The ALSPAC study has led to numerous publications examining associations between nutrition and diet during pregnancy, and child developmental outcomes - and this review summarises the main findings.
Key findings in brief:
-
Eating fish/seafood during pregnancy was associated with beneficial effects on the development of the brain and eyesight of the child
-
Women who ate fish/seafood during pregnancy showed fewer symptoms of depression or anxiety than those who ate no fish
-
Higher maternal educational attainment was related to better quality of diet consumed during pregnancy
-
Maternal smoking during pregnancy and more financial difficulty were related adversely to the quality of the diet consumed during pregnancy
-
Some pregnant women had lower-than-recommended dietary intakes of key nutrients such as iron, potassium, magnesium, and folate
-
Maternal diet during pregnancy was predictive of offspring diet in childhood
-
High maternal prepregnancy weight and greater weight gain during pregnancy were associated with increased fatness and adverse cardiovascular risk factors in offspring in mid childhood
Food and Behaviour Research is a registered charity (No SC034604) and a company limited by guarantee (Co No SC 253448)
Newsletter Signup
Useful Links
Contact Us
FAB Research
23 Carlton Road
Oxford
OX2 7SA
Important Notice
Medical opinion and guidance should always be sought for any symptoms that might possibly reflect a known or suspected disease, disorder or medical condition. Information provided on this website (or by FAB Research via any other means) does not in any way constitute advice on the treatment of any medical condition formally diagnosed or otherwise.
Site by Redstone Websites. Easy to Use Web Content Management. 2024 © All Rights Reserved.