Adherence to a healthy and potentially sustainable Nordic diet is associated with child development in The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

Kristine Vejrup; Neha Agnihotri; Elling Bere; Synnve Schjølberg; Marissa LeBlanc; Elisabet Rudjord Hillesund; Nina Cecilie Øverby

doi:10.1186/s12937-022-00799-5

Adherence to a healthy and potentially sustainable Nordic diet is associated with child development in The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

Nutr J. 2022 Jul 18;21(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s12937-022-00799-5.

Authors

Kristine Vejrup^{1

2}, Neha Agnihotri³, Elling Bere^{4

5

6}, Synnve Schjølberg⁷, Marissa LeBlanc^{1

8}, Elisabet Rudjord Hillesund¹, Nina Cecilie Øverby¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Public Health, Centre for Lifecourse Nutrition, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
² Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Services, Sessvollmoen, Norway.
³ Department of Nutrition and Public Health, Centre for Lifecourse Nutrition, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. neha.agnihotri@uia.no.
⁴ Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
⁵ Department of Health and Inequality, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁶ Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁷ Department of Child Health and Development, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁸ Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Background: The rapid neurodevelopment that occurs during the first years of life hinges on adequate nutrition throughout fetal life and early childhood. Therefore, adhering to a dietary pattern based on healthy foods during pregnancy and the first years of life may be beneficial for future development. The aim of this paper was to investigate the relationship between adherence to a healthy and potentially sustainable Nordic diet during pregnancy and in early childhood and child development.

Methods: This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and uses data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN). In 83,800 mother-child pairs, maternal pregnancy diet and child diet at 6 months, 18 months and 3 years were scored according to adherence to the New Nordic Diet (NND). NND scores were calculated both as a total score and categorized into low, medium, or high adherence. Child communication and motor development skills were reported by parents at 6 months, 18 months, 3 and 5 years, using short forms of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire and the Child Development Inventory. Associations of NND adherence with child development were estimated with linear and logistic regression in crude and adjusted models.

Results: When examining the NND and child developmental scores as percentages of the total scores, we found positive associations between the NND scores (both maternal pregnancy diet and child diet) and higher scoring on child development (adjusted [Formula: see text] s [95% confidence intervals] ranging from 0.007 [0.004, 0.009] to 0.045 [0.040, 0.050]). We further found that low and medium adherence to NND were associated with higher odds of later emerging developmental skills compared to high NND adherence at nearly all measured timepoints (odds ratios [95% CI] ranging from significant values 1.15 [1.03-1.29] to 1.79 [1.55, 2.06] in adjusted analyses).

Conclusions: Our findings support that adherence to a healthy and potentially sustainable diet early in life is important for child development every step of the way from pregnancy until age 5 years.

Keywords: Child development; Child diet; Healthy diet score; MBRN; MoBa; New Nordic diet; Nordic diet.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child Development*
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Diet
Fathers
Female
Humans
Male
Mothers*
Norway
Pregnancy