Mediterranean diet during pregnancy and infant neurodevelopment: A prospective birth cohort study

Fei-Cai Dai; Peng Wang; Qiong Li; Lei Zhang; Li-Jun Yu; Lin Wu; Rui-Xue Tao; Peng Zhu

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1078481

Mediterranean diet during pregnancy and infant neurodevelopment: A prospective birth cohort study

Front Nutr. 2023 Jan 16:9:1078481. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1078481. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Fei-Cai Dai^{1

2

3

4}, Peng Wang^{1

2

3

4}, Qiong Li^{1

2

3

4}, Lei Zhang^{1

2

3

4}, Li-Jun Yu^{1

2

3

4}, Lin Wu^{1

2

3

4}, Rui-Xue Tao⁵, Peng Zhu^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle, Hefei, China.
³ NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
⁴ Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
⁵ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hefei First People's Hospital, Hefei, China.

Abstract

Background: Embryonic neural development is associated with intrauterine nutritional status. However, few cohort studies estimated the relationship between maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and offspring's early neurodevelopment.

Objective: To examine the impact of the Mediterranean diet (MD) during pregnancy on infant neurodevelopment, including the potential mediating role of cord blood metabolites.

Methods: Among 1,471 mother-child pairs in a prospective birth cohort study in Hefei, China, we investigated the associations between maternal MD score [calculated based on a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)] and child neurodevelopment at infancy [assessed using Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3)]. The cord blood metabolic markers (including C-peptide, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides) were measured.

Results: The MD score was negatively associated with communication domain developmental delays in infants [relative risk (RR) with 95% CI: 0.34 (0.16, 0.72)]. Compared with girls, boys born from mothers with lower MD scores during pregnancy were inclined to the failure of the communication domain [RRs with 95% CI for boys: 0.34 (0.14, 0.84); for girls: 0.26 (0.06, 1.18)]. Mediation analysis showed that the association between the maternal MD score and failure of communication domain mediated by C-peptide was 19.4% in boys but not in girls.

Conclusion: Adhering to the MD during pregnancy was associated with a decreased risk of poor neurodevelopment, possibly mediated by lower levels of cord blood C-peptide.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; birth cohort; infant; neurodevelopment; pregnancy.

Grants and funding

This research received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82173531 and 81872631), the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFC2702901), and the Foundation for Scientific Research Improvement of Anhui Medical University (2021xkjT009).