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Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
Published on: June 28, 2024
Maternal dietary fiber intake during pregnancy and child development: the Japan Environment and Children's Study
Kunio Miyake1, Sayaka Horiuchi2, Ryoji Shinohara2
1Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Japan.
Insights
Maternal low-fiber diets during pregnancy are linked to increased risks of neurodevelopmental delays in children. This epidemiological study highlights the importance of adequate dietary fiber for healthy offspring brain development.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Neuroscience
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Animal studies suggest maternal low-fiber diets impair offspring brain development.
- Epidemiological validation of this link in humans is lacking.
- This study addresses the gap by examining maternal fiber intake and neurodevelopmental delay.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal dietary fiber intake during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental delay in offspring.
- To utilize data from a large-scale prospective birth cohort study.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 76,207 mother-infant pairs from the Japan Environment and Children's Study.
- Maternal dietary fiber intake assessed via food frequency questionnaire in mid-pregnancy.
- Developmental delay evaluated at age 3 using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3).
Main Results:
- Lowest quintile of total dietary fiber intake was associated with higher odds of delayed communication, fine motor skills, problem-solving, and personal-social skills.
- Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) ranged from 1.30 to 1.51 for these delays.
- Similar trends observed even after excluding effects of insufficient folic acid intake.
Conclusions:
- Maternal dietary fiber deficiency during pregnancy may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental delay in offspring.
- Findings underscore the importance of adequate fiber intake for fetal neurodevelopment.
- Further research may explore specific mechanisms linking maternal diet and child neurodevelopment.
Background:
Animal studies have shown that maternal low-fiber diets during pregnancy may impair brain development and function in offspring, but this has not been validated by epidemiological studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the link between maternal dietary fiber intake during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental delay in offspring using a large birth cohort.
Methods:
A total of 76,207 mother-infant pairs were analyzed using data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study, a nationwide prospective cohort study. Maternal dietary fiber intake was estimated using the food frequency questionnaire in mid-pregnancy. Maternal dietary fiber intake was adjusted for energy and classified into quintiles. Developmental delay was assessed in five domains using the Japanese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition at the age of 3 years. The logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the link between dietary fiber intake during pregnancy and developmental delay at the age of 3 years.
Results:
The lowest intake group of total dietary fiber had a higher risk of delayed communication [adjusted OR (aOR), 1.51; 95% CI, 1.32-1.74], fine motor (aOR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.32-1.61), problem-solving (aOR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.32-1.61), and personal-social skills (aOR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.12-1.50) than did the highest intake group. An analysis that excluded the effects of insufficient folic acid intake during pregnancy also showed a similar trend.
Conclusion:
This study showed that maternal dietary fiber deficiency during pregnancy might influence an increased risk of neurodevelopmental delay in offspring.
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