Expectant mothers whose diet is reminiscent of that eaten by our early ancestors may aid their unborn baby’s brain growth, a trial indicates
Ecuadorian women who ate food similar our hunter-gatherer-fisher ancestors carried fetuses that showed increased growth in subcortical brain regions, according to the study in PNAS
“Here, we uniquely blend the disciplines of public health nutrition, neuroradiology, and agroecology to demonstrate the effects of a sustainable dietary pattern on fetal growth and development, showing impacts on brain regions that play critical roles in hemisphere connectivity, signal relaying, and other regulatory function,” the researchers reported
A second study, in JAMA Network Open, showed that a woman’s body mass index (BMI) and the amount of weight she gained during pregnancy affected her children’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) early on
Together, the research papers demonstrate how an expectant mother’s food intake and weight can have lifelong consequences for the health of her child, affecting fetal growth, health and neurodevelopment
For most of our time on Earth, Homo sapiens evolved on diets characterized by high dietary diversity and foods including fresh fruits, vegetables, aquatic and other animal
“The true Paleolithic dietary pattern, distinct from the fad Paleo diet today and reflecting gathering, hunting, and fishing activities, was context and climate dependent,” the trial researchers explain
“Relative to dietary patterns today, the Paleolithic diet generally included: higher protein and fats, coming from lean game meats, seafoods, shore bird and reptile eggs; lower carbohydrates, coming from tubers, fruits and vegetables, and honey; and higher micronutrients and fiber, coming from a great variety of fruits and vegetables.”
The trial, named Mikuna—”nourish” in Kichwa, the local indigenous Ecuadorian language— tested the impact of this dietary pattern using locally available and sustainable foods in the country together with social marketing to change behavior
Ecuador is considered a middle-income country and presents the hallmark signs of nutrition transition, the authors note, with persistently high levels of stunting combined with an increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity, and widespread nutrient deficiencies
From 12 weeks into gestation until birth, women on the intervention received a weekly food delivery consisting of eight eggs (four servings); 500 g fish (two servings); a variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices and a social behavior change communication strategy that encouraged a diverse diet with limited ultra-processed food
Lora Iannotti, PhD, from Washington University in St Louis, and colleagues report that the 111 pregnant women on the diet exhibited increased growth in subcortical brain regions associated with motor control, cognition, and signal transmission compared with the children of 104 women who consumed unaltered diets
There were statistically significant differences in Mikuna-diet group compared to control women, with increased corpus callosum length and gangliothalamic ovoid height, and reduced femur length from 21 to 35 weeks’ gestation and a similar direction of results at week 35
The second study investigating the links between pregnancy food intake and offspring CVD looked at Swedish national registry data for 2,496,335 children
Hui Wang, PhD, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and coworkers found that a woman’s BMI and her gestational weight gain affected her children’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease early on
During a median follow-up of 22 years, 22,510 children—equivalent to 0.9%—were diagnosed with CVD
Compared with offspring of mothers with normal BMI (18.5—24.9), the hazard ratios for CVD were 1.29 for those whose mothers were overweight (BMI 18.5—24.9), 1.66 for those with mothers in obesity class 1 (BMI 30—34.9), 2.16 for those with mothers in maternal obesity class 2 (BMI 35—39.9), and 2.74 for those with mothers in class 3 (BMI 40 and above)
Greater gestational weight gain was associated with higher CVD risk across BMI groups. Among children born to mothers with a normal BMI, the hazard for higher weight gain during this time was 1.16
Wang and team concluded: “Our findings may help inform early-life intervention strategies aimed at mitigating the intergenerational transmission of CVD risk.”
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