Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Illes Balears (IdISBa), Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Clin Nutr. 2022 Oct;41(10):2275-2283. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2022.08.005. Epub 2022 Aug 19.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Maternal ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption during pregnancy may adversely affect child development. Pregnancy sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (as a part of UPF) has been associated with child cognitive dysfunction in the general population, but the role of total UPF consumption during pregnancy in later child neuropsychological development has not been studied. We aimed to analyse the association between maternal pregnancy UPF consumption and child neurodevelopment.
This study involved 2377 pairs of pregnant women and their offspring from a Spanish birth cohort (recruitment period: 2004-2008, INMA project). Dietary intake was estimated using a 101-item food frequency questionnaire in the third trimester of pregnancy. The NOVA classification was used to identify UPFs, and their consumption was calculated as the daily percentage of total food consumption and categorized into tertiles. Child neuropsychological development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (1-year-old, n = 1929) and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (4-5 years-old, n = 1679). Potential associations were analysed using multivariate linear regression models adjusted for a range of family and child characteristics.
UPF consumption among pregnant women represented an average of 17% of the total diet, with sugar-sweetened beverages being the most commonly consumed type of UPF (40%). Children born to mothers in the highest tertile of UPF consumption (28.9% or more of the total diet) vs the lowest tertile (7.2% or less), showed a lower score (B = -2.29 [95% Confidence Interval (CI), -4.13; -0.46]) in the Verbal Scale of the McCarthy Scales (p-for-trend = 0.02). No associations were observed with the McCarthy Scales assessing other cognitive domains or with the Bayley Scales.
Of the seven cognitive domains studied, we observed an adverse association between maternal consumption of UPF during pregnancy and verbal functioning in early childhood, which is an important cognitive domain of neurodevelopment.
孕期母体超加工食品（UPF）的摄入可能会对儿童发育产生不利影响。在一般人群中，孕期摄入含糖饮料（作为 UPF 的一部分）与儿童认知功能障碍有关，但孕期总 UPF 摄入量与后期儿童神经心理发育的关系尚未得到研究。我们旨在分析孕期母体 UPF 摄入与儿童神经发育之间的关系。
本研究纳入了来自西班牙出生队列的 2377 对孕妇及其子女（招募时间：2004-2008 年，INMA 项目）。在妊娠晚期，使用 101 项食物频率问卷来估计饮食摄入量。使用 NOVA 分类法来识别 UPF，并将其消耗量计算为每日总食物消耗量的百分比，并分为三分位。儿童神经心理发育采用贝利婴幼儿发育量表（1 岁，n=1929）和麦卡锡儿童能力量表（4-5 岁，n=1679）进行评估。使用多元线性回归模型分析潜在的关联，该模型调整了一系列家庭和儿童特征。
孕妇 UPF 摄入量占总饮食的平均 17%，其中含糖饮料是最常见的 UPF 类型（40%）。与 UPF 摄入量最低三分位（总饮食的 7.2%或更少）相比，摄入最高三分位（总饮食的 28.9%或更多）的母亲所生的儿童，在麦卡锡量表的言语量表中的得分较低（B=-2.29[95%置信区间（CI），-4.13；-0.46]）（趋势检验 p 值=0.02）。在评估其他认知领域的麦卡锡量表或贝利婴幼儿发育量表中，未观察到与其他认知领域或贝利婴幼儿发育量表相关的关联。
在研究的七个认知领域中，我们观察到孕期母体 UPF 摄入与儿童早期言语功能之间存在不良关联，言语功能是神经发育的一个重要认知领域。
