A mother’s diet during pregnancy is linked to the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism among children, revealed a new study.
According to HealthDay, a new study published in the journal Nature Metabolism has found that an unhealthy diet, especially a “Western diet,” during pregnancy increases the risk of developmental disorders in the child.
A lead researcher of the study, Dr. David Horner, said in a news release, “The greater a woman's adherence to a Western diet in pregnancy, high in fat, sugar, and refined products while low in fish, vegetables, and fruit, the greater the risk appears to be for her child developing ADHD or autism.”
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Researchers for this study first identified more than 500 Norwegian 10-year-olds who were diagnosed with a developmental disorder and then analysed their mother’s diet during pregnancy.
The researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark found a significant link between mothers diets and autism and ADHD diagnoses of the children.
A senior author, Morten Arendt Rasmussen, asserted, “We observed the strongest associations in the first and second trimesters, suggesting that brain development during this period is particularly sensitive to maternal nutritional influences.”
The results of the study showed that the Western dietary pattern increases the risk of any developmental disorder by 53%. Even a shift in the diet was linked to a 66% increased risk of ADHD and a 122% increased risk of autism.
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