Nutrition and neurodevelopment in children: focus on NUTRIMENTHE project.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate the association between gestational nutrition, including iron, and brain development in children.
Results Summary
The abstract suggests that iron is one of the micronutrients with credible evidence linking it to brain development in healthy children, though single-nutrient supplementation is less adequate than complex formulae. Long-term impacts on neurodevelopment require further investigation.
Population
Pregnant women and their children.
Effective Dosage
Not available
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
early nutrition | neutral | later cognitive performance | - | - | affects | #1 |
diet of mothers, infants, and children | neutral | later mental performance | - | - | could affect | #2 |
micronutrients | increase | health | pregnant women | - | positive effect | #3 |
pregnant women eating well | increase | child's cognitive and behavioural outcomes | pregnant women | - | maximise | #4 |
gestational nutrition | neutral | brain development | healthy children | - | association | #5 |
folate | neutral | brain development | healthy children | - | more credible association | #6 |
n-3 fatty acids | neutral | brain development | healthy children | - | more credible association | #7 |
iron | neutral | brain development | healthy children | - | more credible association | #8 |
single-nutrient supplementation | decrease | - | - | - | less adequate | #9 |
supplementation with more complex formulae | increase | - | - | - | more adequate | #10 |
There is growing evidence that early nutrition affects later cognitive performance. The idea that the diet of mothers, infants, and children could affect later mental performance has major implications for public health practice and policy development and for our understanding of human biology as well as for food product development, economic progress, and future wealth creation. To date, however, much of the evidence is from animal, retrospective studies and short-term nutritional intervention studies in humans. The positive effect of micronutrients on health, especially of pregnant women eating well to maximise their child's cognitive and behavioural outcomes, is commonly acknowledged. The current evidence of an association between gestational nutrition and brain development in healthy children is more credible for folate, n-3 fatty acids, and iron. Recent findings highlight the fact that single-nutrient supplementation is less adequate than supplementation with more complex formulae. However, the optimal content of micronutrient supplementation and whether there is a long-term impact on child's neurodevelopment needs to be investigated further. Moreover, it is also evident that future studies should take into account genetic heterogeneity when evaluating nutritional effects and also nutritional recommendations. The objective of the present review is to provide a background and update on the current knowledge linking nutrition to cognition and behaviour in children, and to show how the large collaborative European Project NUTRIMENTHE is working towards this aim.