Vegetarian diet during pregnancy is not associated with poorer cognitive performance in children at age 6-7 years
Vegetarian diet during pregnancy is not associated with poorer cognitive performance in children at age 6-7 years
Compared with omnivorous mothers, vegetarian mothers have lower intakes of some nutrients required for neurological development. However, there is a lack of information about the impact of vegetarianism during pregnancy on subsequent cognitive function in children. The aim of this study was to investigate whether vegetarianism during pregnancy is associated with altered maternal nutritional status and with cognitive function in children at six to seven years of age. Women aged 20–34 years participating in a prospective observational study who provided dietary data and blood samples in early pregnancy (11 weeks; 78 vegetarians and 2144 omnivores) or late pregnancy (34 weeks; 91 vegetarians and 2552 omnivores). Compared with omnivorous women, vegetarian women had lower blood concentrations of arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and cobalamin in early and late pregnancy. Vegetarianism in pregnancy was linked to higher maternal educational attainment, longer breastfeeding duration, lower incidence of smoking during pregnancy and a tendency towards higher IQ in the mothers. Concentrations of some nutrients required for neurodevelopment were lower in maternal blood during gestation; however, after controlling for confounders consuming a vegetarian diet during pregnancy was not associated with poorer neurocognitive development of the children in this study.
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Crozier, Sarah
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Godfrey, Keith
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Calder, Philip
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Robinson, Sian
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Inskip, Hazel
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Baird, Janis
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Gale, Catharine
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Cooper, Cyrus
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Sibbons, Charlene M.
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Fisk, Helena
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Burdge, Graham
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11 December 2019
Crozier, Sarah
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Godfrey, Keith
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Calder, Philip
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Robinson, Sian
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Inskip, Hazel
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Baird, Janis
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Gale, Catharine
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Cooper, Cyrus
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Sibbons, Charlene M.
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Fisk, Helena
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Burdge, Graham
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Crozier, Sarah, Godfrey, Keith, Calder, Philip, Robinson, Sian, Inskip, Hazel, Baird, Janis, Gale, Catharine, Cooper, Cyrus, Sibbons, Charlene M., Fisk, Helena and Burdge, Graham
(2019)
Vegetarian diet during pregnancy is not associated with poorer cognitive performance in children at age 6-7 years.
Nutrients, 11 (12), , [3029].
(doi:10.3390/nu11123029).
Abstract
Compared with omnivorous mothers, vegetarian mothers have lower intakes of some nutrients required for neurological development. However, there is a lack of information about the impact of vegetarianism during pregnancy on subsequent cognitive function in children. The aim of this study was to investigate whether vegetarianism during pregnancy is associated with altered maternal nutritional status and with cognitive function in children at six to seven years of age. Women aged 20–34 years participating in a prospective observational study who provided dietary data and blood samples in early pregnancy (11 weeks; 78 vegetarians and 2144 omnivores) or late pregnancy (34 weeks; 91 vegetarians and 2552 omnivores). Compared with omnivorous women, vegetarian women had lower blood concentrations of arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and cobalamin in early and late pregnancy. Vegetarianism in pregnancy was linked to higher maternal educational attainment, longer breastfeeding duration, lower incidence of smoking during pregnancy and a tendency towards higher IQ in the mothers. Concentrations of some nutrients required for neurodevelopment were lower in maternal blood during gestation; however, after controlling for confounders consuming a vegetarian diet during pregnancy was not associated with poorer neurocognitive development of the children in this study.
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Vegetarian diet and childhood IQ Accepted 11 Dec 2019
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 December 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 December 2019
Published date: 11 December 2019
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Local EPrints ID: 436648
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/436648
ISSN: 2072-6643
PURE UUID: d693a1e3-5979-4d99-bff5-6d832a54373b
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Date deposited: 19 Dec 2019 17:30
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:24
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Author:
Sian Robinson
Author:
Charlene M. Sibbons
Author:
Helena Fisk
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