Impact of Nutritional Deficiencies in the Pre and Post Natal Period on Child Brain Development – Prof Jacka

Professor Felice Jacka is the Director of the Food and Mood Centre within the Deakin University School of Medicine in Geelong. She is also an honorary Principal Research Fellow with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, The Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, and at the Black Dog in NSW. Professor Jacka has pioneered a highly innovative program of research that examines how individuals’ diets interact with the risk of mental health problems. This research is being carried out with the ultimate goal of developing an evidence-based public health message for the primary prevention of common mental disorders.

Study:

Maternal and Early Postnatal Nutrition and Mental Health of Offspring by Age 5 Years: A Prospective Cohort Study – Jacka et al., 2013

• The sample included 23,020 mothers and their children.
• Data were collected from mothers during pregnancy and when children were 6 months and 1.5, 3, and 5 years of age.
• Pre and post-natal diet quality was measured
• Children’s mental health at 18 months, 36 months and 5 years was measured (internalizing and externalizing behaviors)
• Latent Growth curve models adjusted for: Maternal and paternal age, Maternal education, Parental income, Marital status, Maternal depression, Maternal smoking before and during pregnancy, Maternal role (home duties or paid workforce), Parity and gestational length & Parental locus of control

The study found:

• Higher intake of unhealthy foods by mothers during pregnancy is related to increased externalizing behaviors in children
• Higher intakes of unhealthy foods during the child’s first few years of life are related to increased internalizing and externalizing behaviors in children
• Higher intakes of healthy foods during the child’s first years of life are related to decreased levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in children