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Maternal Pregnancy Diet Quality Is Directly Associated with Autonomic Nervous System Function in 6-Month-Old
John E Krzeczkowski1, Khrista Boylan2, Tye E Arbuckle3
1Neuroscience Graduate Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Insights
Poor prenatal diet quality is linked to lower infant heart rate variability (HRV), indicating reduced autonomic nervous system (ANS) function. This suggests maternal diet impacts offspring
Area of Science:
- Perinatal nutrition and neurodevelopment
- Autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in infants
- Maternal health and offspring outcomes
Background:
- Many pregnant women consume diets of poor quality.
- Poor prenatal diet is linked to specific offspring diseases, but its effect on core neurophysiological regulatory systems is unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between prenatal diet quality and infant autonomic nervous system (ANS) function at 6 months of age.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 400 women and their infants in the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals-Infant Development cohort.
- Assessed prenatal diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index (2010) from first-trimester FFQs.
- Measured infant ANS function via heart rate variability (HRV) using RMSSD and SDNN, adjusting for confounders.
Main Results:
- Poorer prenatal diet quality was significantly associated with lower infant HRV (RMSSD and SDNN).
- These associations remained significant after adjusting for socioeconomic status, maternal depression, cardiometabolic dysfunction, breastfeeding, and smoking.
Conclusions:
- Poorer prenatal diet quality is linked to reduced offspring heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of ANS adaptability.
- Maternal diet during pregnancy may significantly influence the programming of offspring organ systems, potentially increasing susceptibility to disease.
Background:
Many pregnant women are consuming diets of poor overall quality. Although many studies have linked poor prenatal diet quality to an increased risk of specific diseases in offspring, it is not known if exposure to poor prenatal diet affects core neurophysiological regulatory systems in offspring known to lie upstream of multiple diseases.
Objective:
We aimed to examine the association between prenatal diet quality and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in infants at 6 mo of age.
Methods:
Data from 400 women (aged >18 y, with uncomplicated pregnancies) and their infants participating in the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals-Infant Development cohort were used to investigate links between prenatal diet quality and infant ANS function at 6 mo of age. Prenatal diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (2010), calculated from a validated FFQ completed by women during the first trimester. Infant ANS function was measured using 2 assessments of heart rate variability (HRV) including root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and SD of N-N intervals (SDNN). Associations were analyzed before and after adjustment for socioeconomic status, maternal depression symptoms, maternal cardiometabolic dysfunction, breastfeeding, and prenatal smoking.
Results:
Poorer prenatal diet quality was associated with lower infant HRV assessed using RMSSD (B: 0.07; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.13; R2 = 0.013) and SDNN (B: 0.18; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.35; R2 = 0.011). These associations remained significant after adjustment for confounding variables [RMSSD: B: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.003, 0.18; squared semipartial correlation (sp2) = 0.14 and SDNN B: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.0, 0.49; sp2 = 0.13].
Conclusions:
In a large cohort study, poorer prenatal diet quality was associated with lower offspring HRV, a marker of decreased capacity of the ANS to respond adaptively to challenge. Therefore, poor prenatal diet may play a significant role in the programming of multiple organ systems and could increase general susceptibility to disease in offspring.
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