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Maternal nut and fish consumption during pregnancy and child risky decision-making at 11 years old
Marina Ruiz Rivera1,2,3, Ariadna Pinar-Martí1,2,3, Izaro Babarro4
1Clinical and Epidemiological Neuroscience (NeuroÈpia), Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Reus, Catalonia, 43204, Spain.
Insights
Maternal nut consumption during pregnancy is linked to reduced risky decision-making in children. However, fish intake may be associated with increased impulsivity in offspring.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Antenatal diet is increasingly recognized for its potential influence on neurodevelopmental outcomes.
- Impulsivity and risky decision-making are complex behaviors with potential origins in early life exposures.
- The INMA (Infancia y Medio Ambiente) project is a population-based birth cohort study investigating environmental influences on child development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between maternal nut and fish consumption during early pregnancy and impulsivity and risky decision-making in pre-adolescent children.
- To investigate potential neurodevelopmental impacts of specific dietary components during the critical prenatal period.
Main Methods:
- A prospective mother-child birth cohort study (INMA project) with 1386 participants.
- Maternal dietary intake of nuts and fish during the first trimester was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
- Impulsivity was measured using the Attention Network Task (ANT), and risky decision-making was assessed via the Roulette Task. Associations were analyzed using multivariable linear regression models.
Main Results:
- Higher maternal nut intake during pregnancy was significantly associated with lower scores for risky decision-making in 11-year-old children (p-for-trend = 0.03).
- Fish consumption during early pregnancy showed a positive association with the impulsivity index (ANT) (p < 0.05), but no significant association with risky decision-making.
- The findings suggest a potential protective effect of nuts against risky decision-making and a possible link between fish intake and increased impulsivity.
Conclusions:
- A higher intake of nuts during early pregnancy may contribute to reduced risky decision-making behaviors in offspring.
- Moderate fish consumption in early pregnancy appears to be associated with higher impulsivity, suggesting potential adverse neurodevelopmental effects.
- These findings highlight the nuanced impact of maternal diet on child neurobehavioral development, with differential effects of nuts and fish.
Abstract:
Antenatal diet may have a role in the development of impulsivity, and hence in risky decision-making. This study is assessing whether nut and fish consumption during pregnancy is associated with impulsivity and risky decision-making until pre-adolescence. This is a mother-child population-based birth cohort study, INMA (Infancia y Medio Ambiente) project (recruitment years 2004-2008). The final sample included 1386 healthy preadolescents and their mothers. The exposure variables included maternal nut and fish consumption during the first trimester of pregnancy from a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The main outcomes were impulsivity index (Attention Network Task, ANT) and the number of risky decision-making (Roulette Task). The association was estimated by multi-variable linear regression models. Children whose mothers were at the highest nut intake tertile showed less risky decision scores compared to those at the lowest tertile (β = -1.49, 95%CI = -2.85; -0.14; p-for-trend = 0.03). Fish consumption showed a positive association with ANT impulsivity index (the coefficient for second quintile compared to the lowest β = 65.73, 95%CI = 1.11; 130.35), with a p-value < 0.05 and a p-for-trend = 0.61. Although, no association was observed between fish consumption and risky decision-making outcome. Our study suggests that a higher nut intake during early pregnancy may be related with less risky decision-making in the 11-year-old children. Also, that a moderate intake of fish during early pregnancy seems to be associated with higher impulsivity in the offspring. The latter finding may be indicative of no benefits observed from seafood consumption.
