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Updated: May 22, 2025

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
03:19

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes

Published on: June 28, 2024

341

Choline During Pregnancy and Child Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and

Jacqueline F Gould1,2, Sonia Hines3,4, Karen P Best1,5

  • 1Women and Kids Theme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia.

Nutrients
|March 13, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Most pregnant women do not consume enough choline. While animal studies suggest benefits, current human research on choline supplementation during pregnancy shows insufficient evidence to prove improved child neurodevelopment.

Area of Science:

  • Perinatal nutrition
  • Neurodevelopmental science
  • Human reproductive health

Background:

  • Maternal choline intake is frequently below recommended levels.
  • Animal models indicate prenatal choline may enhance offspring cognitive function.
  • This review investigates the link between maternal choline and child brain development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the association between prenatal choline availability and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children.
  • To synthesize evidence from clinical trials and observational studies on choline's role in pregnancy.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review of randomized controlled trials and observational studies.
  • Analysis of neurodevelopmental assessments from 20 publications.
  • Evaluation of evidence quality and study limitations.

Main Results:

  • Four randomized trials and five observational studies were included.
  • Most neurodevelopmental outcomes did not support a benefit from higher prenatal choline.
  • Some trials showed minor benefits, but limitations prevent definitive conclusions.

Conclusions:

  • Evidence is currently insufficient to confirm or deny the hypothesis that increased choline intake during pregnancy benefits child neurodevelopment.
  • Further high-quality research is needed to clarify choline's impact on fetal brain development.
Abstract

Keywords:
child neurodevelopmentcholinepregnancyprenatalsupplementationsystematic review

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