Unhealthy diet during pregnancy and negative otcomes including ADHD

Linking poor diet during pregnancy with negative pregnancy outcomes for children 

Books in our UZ Mpilo Library collection on diet and pregnancy see list at end of page

New research led by scientists from King's College London and the University of Bristol has found that a high-fat, high-sugar diet during pregnancy may be linked to symptoms of ADHD in children who show conduct problems early in life.

Published today in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, this study is the first to indicate that epigenetic changes evident at birth may explain the link between unhealthy diet, conduct problems and ADHD.

Early onset conduct problems (e.g. lying, fighting) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are the leading causes of child mental health referral in the UK. These two disorders tend to occur in tandem and can also be traced back to very similar prenatal experiences such as maternal distress or poor nutrition.

In this new study, the researchers assessed how the mothers' nutrition affected epigenetic changes (or DNA methylation) to the activity of IGF2, a gene involved in fetal development and the brain development of areas implicated in ADHD – the cerebellum and hippocampus. Notably, DNA methylation of IGF2 had previously been found in children of mothers who were exposed to famine in the Netherlands during World War II.

The researchers from King's and Bristol found that poor prenatal nutrition, comprising high fat and sugar diets of processed food and confectionary, was associated with higher IGF2 methylation in children with early onset conduct problems and those with low conduct problems.
Higher IGF2 methylation was also associated with higher ADHD symptoms between the ages of 7 and 13, but only for children who showed an early onset of conduct problems.


Dr Edward Barker from King's College London said: "Our finding that poor prenatal nutrition was associated with higher IGF2 methylation highlights the critical importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy.
"These results suggest that promoting a healthy prenatal diet may ultimately lower ADHD symptoms and conduct problems in children. This is encouraging given that nutritional and epigenetic risk factors can be altered."

Diet for pregnancy extracted from foundations of maternal newborn nursing extracted from Foundations of Maternal-Newborn Nursing by Murray & McKinney 

 

Dr Barker added: "We now need to examine more specific types of nutrition. For example, the types of fats such as omega 3 fatty acids, from fish, walnuts and chicken are extremely important for neural development.
"We already know that nutritional supplements for children can lead to lower ADHD and conduct problems, so it will be important for future research to examine the role of epigenetic changes in this process."

'Prenatal unhealthy diet, insulin-like growth factor 2 gene (IGF2) methylation, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in youth with early-onset conduct problems' by J Rijlaarsdam, C Cecil, E Walton, M Mesirow, C Relton, T Gaunt, W McArdle, E Barker in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

extracted from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.12589/full

 

Cultural issues around nutrition in pregnancy

 " Cultural background has an important influence on many aspects of peoples lives including their beliefs, behaviors, perceptions, emotions, languages, religion, rituals, family structure, diet dress, body image, concepts, concepts, of space and time, and attitudes to illness, pain and other forms of misfortune, all of which may have important implications for health and health care.." C G Helman

Cultural issues influencing diet in pregnancy extracted from  Culture, Health and Illness by C G Helman

Books in our library collection with information on diet for pregnancy and related issues

1. Nutrition in pregnancy by B Worthington-Roberts & S R Williams

2. Nutrition for developing countries by M H King & FM King

3.Nutrition during pregnancy: weight gain: nutrient supplements

4.  Culture, health and Illness by C G Helman

5. Complete food and nutrition guide by R L Duyff

6. ABC of nutrition by A S Truswell

7.Foundations of maternal-Newborn nursing by S S Murray & E S McKinney

8. Food plants of Zimbabwe by M H Tredgold

9. Pregnancy questions and answers; everything you need to know trimester by trimester by Baby Care-centre