van Rooij Daan, Mou Yuchan, White Tonya, Voortman Trudy, Jansen Pauline W, Buitelaar Jan K
Department of Experimental Psychology, Faculty Social Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Nutrients. 2025 Sep 17;17(18):2979. doi: 10.3390/nu17182979.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Maternal vitamin supplementation (including folic acid, vitamin D, and multivitamin supplements) during pregnancy may lower the likelihood of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring. This study examines the associations between maternal vitamin suppletion during pregnancy and morphological patterns in offsprings' brain structure and traits of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a large population-based study of child development.
The study cohort included a total of 3937 children (aged 9-11) participating in the Generation R cohort in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Maternal vitamin D and folateserum levels, multivitamin supplement use, and overall dietary quality (as assessed by the Food Frequency Questionnaire, FFQ) during pregnancy were used as predictors. T1 structural MRI scans were acquired and segmented using Freesurfer to assess brain morphometry. Cortical and subcortical brain volumes of children were separated into four independent components and used as mediators. ADHD and ASD traits, as measured by parent-completed questionnaires (Child Behavior CheckList and Social Responsiveness Scale, respectively) were used as outcome variables.
Results show that (1) maternal vitamin D, multivitamin supplementation, and better diet quality were associated with fewer ADHD or ASD traits in the offspring; (2) vitamin D and diet quality were associated with larger-volume childhood brain components; (3) larger-volume brain components were associated with fewer ADHD and ASD traits; (4) part of the association between dietary factors in pregnancy and offspring ADHD and ASD traits was mediated through the brain volumes of the children.
Though all observed effect sizes were small, further population-based research should be performed to further delineate the effects of gestational multivitamin and vitamin D exposure and investigate whether this may be an avenue for preventive interventions.
背景/目的：孕期母体补充维生素（包括叶酸、维生素D和多种维生素补充剂）可能会降低后代患神经发育障碍的可能性。在一项基于大规模儿童发育人群的研究中，本研究探讨了孕期母体补充维生素与后代脑结构形态模式以及自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）特征之间的关联。
研究队列包括荷兰鹿特丹3937名9至11岁参与Generation R队列研究的儿童。孕期母体维生素D和叶酸血清水平、多种维生素补充剂的使用情况以及总体饮食质量（通过食物频率问卷，即FFQ评估）被用作预测指标。使用Freesurfer对获取的T1结构MRI扫描图像进行分割，以评估脑形态学。儿童的皮质和皮质下脑容量被分为四个独立成分并用作中介变量。通过家长填写的问卷（分别为儿童行为检查表和社会反应量表）测量的ADHD和ASD特征用作结果变量。
结果表明：（1）母体维生素D、多种维生素补充剂以及更好的饮食质量与后代较少的ADHD或ASD特征相关；（2）维生素D和饮食质量与儿童期较大的脑容量成分相关；（3）较大的脑容量成分与较少的ADHD和ASD特征相关；（4）孕期饮食因素与后代ADHD和ASD特征之间的部分关联是通过儿童的脑容量介导的。
尽管所有观察到的效应量都很小，但应开展进一步的基于人群的研究，以进一步阐明孕期多种维生素和维生素D暴露的影响，并调查这是否可能是预防性干预的途径。
