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Association of Prenatal Sugar Consumption with Newborn Brain Tissue Organization
Paige K Berger1, Catherine Monk2, Ravi Bansal1
1Department of Pediatrics, The Saban Research Institute, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA.
Insights
Maternal sugar intake during pregnancy is linked to infant brain development. Higher sugar consumption was associated with altered brain tissue organization in newborns, impacting foundational brain structure.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Animal studies suggest prenatal sugar exposure affects brain development.
- Human evidence regarding maternal sugar intake and infant brain structure is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal sugar consumption during pregnancy and infant brain tissue organization.
- To explore the relationship between total and added sugar intake and brain development markers in newborns.
Main Methods:
- Adolescent mothers (n=41) provided dietary data via 24-hour recalls during the second trimester.
- Infant brain tissue organization was assessed at 3 weeks using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on a 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner.
- Voxel-wise analyses examined associations between maternal sugar intake and brain measures, including fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), adjusting for covariates.
Main Results:
- Maternal total and added sugar intake showed inverse associations with infant mean diffusivity (MD) values across the cortical mantle.
- These associations were observed in both the posterior periphery and frontal lobe.
- No significant associations were found with fractional anisotropy (FA) values.
Conclusions:
- Maternal sugar intake during the second trimester is significantly associated with infant brain tissue organization.
- These findings highlight a potential link between maternal diet and the foundational aspects of infant brain development.
- Further research is warranted to understand the long-term functional implications of these early brain alterations.
Abstract:
Animal studies have shown that exposure to excess sugar during the prenatal and postnatal periods may alter early brain structure in rat pups. However, evidence in humans is lacking. The aim of this study was to determine associations of maternal total and added sugar intake in pregnancy with early brain tissue organization in infants. Adolescent mothers (n = 41) were recruited during pregnancy and completed 24 h dietary recalls during the second trimester. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed on infants using a 3.0 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanner at 3 weeks. Maps of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were constructed. A multiple linear regression was used to examine voxel-wise associations across the brain. Adjusting for postmenstrual age, sex, birth weight, and total energy intake revealed that maternal total and added sugar consumption were associated inversely and diffusely with infant MD values, not FA values. Inverse associations were distributed throughout all of the cortical mantle, including the posterior periphery (Bs = -6.78 to -0.57, Ps < 0.001) and frontal lobe (Bs = -4.72 to -0.77, Ps ≤ 0.002). Our findings suggest that maternal total and added sugar intake during the second trimester are significantly associated with features of brain tissue organization in infants, the foundation for future functional outcomes.
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