Maternal Diet and Child Development

Negative fetal and childhood neurodevelopment is linked to maternal undernutrition and high-stress levels. Crovetto et al. (2023) investigated the proposition that organized therapies based on a Mediterranean diet or mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) during pregnancy enhance 2-year-old children's neurodevelopment. The IMPACT BCN (Improving Mothers for a Better Prenatal Care Trial Barcelona) was a parallel-group, randomized clinical trial from February 2017 to March 2020. The three groups—a Mediterranean diet intervention, an MBSR program, or standard care— had 1221 singleton pregnancies (19 to 23 weeks gestation) with a high risk of small for gestational age delivery randomly assigned. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition, was used to evaluate postnatal development. Data was examined between July and November 2022. The Mediterranean diet group was provided with free extra virgin olive oil and walnuts and monthly individual and group instructional sessions. Pregnant women who participated in the stress reduction program went through an 8-week MBSR program. Pregnancy care was provided to members of the typical care group in accordance with institutional policies. At 24 months of corrected postnatal age, the Bayley-III was used to evaluate the neurodevelopment of children. At a mean (SD) age of 24.8 (2.9) months, a total of 626 children (293 [46.8%] female and 333 [53.2%] male) participated. Analysis of the results revealed that, between the intervention groups, there were no variations in characteristics at baseline. Children in the Mediterranean diet group had higher cognitive and social-emotional scores than children in the usual care group, while children in the stress reduction group had higher social-emotional scores. The authors comment that the results of mother-structured lifestyle treatments during pregnancy based on a Mediterranean diet or MBSR significantly enhanced child neurodevelopmental outcomes at age two years, according to this predetermined analysis of a randomized clinical trial.