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Early neurodevelopment in the offspring of women enrolled in a randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of a nutrition + exercise intervention on the cognitive development of 12-month-olds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2023

Neda Mortaji Open the ORCID record for Neda Mortaji [Opens in a new window] ,
John Krzeczkowski ,
Stephanie Atkinson ,
Bahar Amani ,
Louis A. Schmidt  and
Ryan J. Van Lieshout
Neda Mortaji*
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Graduate Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
John Krzeczkowski
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, Toronto, Canada
Stephanie Atkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Bahar Amani
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Graduate Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Louis A. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Ryan J. Van Lieshout
Affiliation:
Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
*
Corresponding author: N. Mortaji; Email: mortajin@mcmaster.ca
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Abstract

Experimental data on the effects of lifestyle interventions on fetal neurodevelopment in humans remain scarce. This study assessed the impact of a pregnancy nutrition+exercise intervention on offspring neurodevelopment at 12 months of age. The Be Healthy in Pregnancy (BHIP) randomized controlled trial (RCT) randomly assigned pregnant persons with stratification by site and body mass index (BMI) to bi-weekly nutrition counselling and high dairy protein diet, walking goal of 10,000 steps/day plus usual prenatal care (UPC; intervention group) or UPC alone (control group). This study examined a subset of these mothers (> 18 years, singleton pregnancy, BMI <40 kg/m2, and enrolled by ≤12 weeks gestation) and their infants (intervention = 42, control = 32), assessing cognition, language, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive functioning at 12 months using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development third edition (BSID-III) as the outcome measure. We also examined if maternal factors (prepregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain (GWG)) moderated associations. Expressive language (MD = 9.62, 95% CI = (9.05–10.18), p = 0.03, ƞ2p = 0.07) and general adaptive composite (GAC) scores (MD = 103.97, 95% CI = (100.31–107.63), p = 0.04, ƞ2p = 0.06) were higher in infants of mothers in the intervention group. Effect sizes were medium. However, mean cognitive, receptive language, motor, and social-emotional scale scores did not differ between groups. A structured and monitored nutrition+exercise intervention during pregnancy led to improved expressive language and general adaptive behavior in 12-month-olds, but not cognitive, receptive language, motor, or socioemotional functioning. While these experimental data are promising, further research is needed to determine the clinical utility of nutrition+exercise interventions for optimizing infant neurodevelopment.

Keywords

Cognitive developmentpregnancy nutritionfetal developmentpregnancy exerciselifestyle interventionneurodevelopment
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , August 2023 , pp. 532 - 539
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

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Footnotes

Clinical Trial Registration (if any): The analyses presented here were preregistered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01689961 on September 21, 2012. The preregistration is available at the following URL: Be Healthy in Pregnancy (BHIP) With Nutrition and Exercise - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

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