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Publications

Journal Article Ppublish 15 citations

PubMed: 40033007 DOI: 10.1038/s42255-025-01230-z

A western dietary pattern during pregnancy is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and adolescence.

Nat Metab 7(3):586-601

Authors: David Horner, Jens Richardt M Jepsen, Bo Chawes, Kristina Aagaard, Julie B Rosenberg, Parisa Mohammadzadeh, Astrid Sevelsted, Nilo Vahman, Rebecca Vinding, Birgitte Fagerlund, Christos Pantelis, Niels Bilenberg, Casper-Emil T Pedersen, Anders Eliasen, Sarah Brandt, Yulu Chen, Nicole Prince, Su H Chu, Rachel S Kelly, Jessica Lasky-Su, Thorhallur I Halldorsson, Marin Strøm, Katrine Strandberg-Larsen, Sjurdur F Olsen, Birte Y Glenthøj, Klaus Bønnelykke, Bjørn H Ebdrup, Jakob Stokholm, Morten Arendt Rasmussen

Affiliations

  • COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CNSR) and Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CINS), Mental Health Centre Glostrup, University of Copenhagen, Glostrup, Denmark.
  • Mental Health Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Research unit, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Carlton South, Victoria, Australia.
  • Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
  • Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
  • Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
  • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Health Science, University of Iceland, Health Science Institute, Unit for Nutrition Research, Reykjavík, Iceland.
  • Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
  • Section of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Section of Food Microbiology, Gut Health and Fermentation, Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Section of Food Microbiology, Gut Health and Fermentation, Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Abstract

Despite the high prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders, the influence of maternal diet during pregnancy on child neurodevelopment remains understudied. Here we show that a western dietary pattern during pregnancy is associated with child neurodevelopmental disorders. We analyse self-reported maternal dietary patterns at 24 weeks of pregnancy and clinically evaluated neurodevelopmental disorders at 10 years of age in the COPSAC2010 cohort (n = 508). We find significant associations with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism diagnoses. We validate the ADHD findings in three large, independent mother-child cohorts (n = 59,725, n = 656 and n = 348) through self-reported dietary modelling, maternal blood metabolomics and foetal blood metabolomics. Metabolome analyses identify 15 mediating metabolites in pregnancy that improve ADHD prediction. Longitudinal blood metabolome analyses, incorporating five time points per cohort in two independent cohorts, reveal that associations between western dietary pattern metabolite scores and neurodevelopmental outcomes are consistently significant in early-mid-pregnancy. These findings highlight the potential for targeted prenatal dietary interventions to prevent neurodevelopmental disorders and emphasise the importance of early intervention.

MeSH

Pregnancy, Blood, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Diet, Western, Diet, Metabolomics, Child, Attention Deficit Disorder With Hyperactivity, Dietary Patterns, Neurodevelopment

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