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Published on: May 5, 2018
Deficient maternal zinc intake-but not folate-is associated with lower fetal heart rate variability
Marisa N Spann1, Jennifer Smerling2, Hanna Gustafsson3
1Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Objective:
Few studies of maternal prenatal diet and child development examine micronutrient status in relation to fetal assessment.
Methods:
Twenty-four-hour dietary recall of zinc and folate and 20min of fetal heart rate were collected from 3rd trimester pregnant adolescents.
Results:
Deficient zinc was associated with less fetal heart rate variability. Deficient folate had no associations with HRV. Neither deficient zinc nor deficient folate was related to fetal heart rate.
Conclusions:
These findings, from naturalistic observation, are consistent with emerging data on prenatal zinc supplementation using a randomized control design.
Practical Implication:
Taken together, the findings suggest that maternal prenatal zinc intake is an important and novel factor for understanding child ANS development.
