An assessment of feature of maternal diet in pregnancy that are important for subsequent child development.

CACH Team: Genette Ellis, Steven Gregory, Yasmin Iles-Caven, Rosie Clark and Jean Golding.   

What the mother eats in pregnancy is known to affect the fetal development, leading to changes in behaviour and cognitive development. This project uses details of the diet of the mother in pregnancy, as recorded in the ALSPAC project, linked to a variety of cognitive and psychological outcomes of the study child and adolescent. The aim is to assess features of the prenatal diet that are most important for the child’s development. Early studies have determined and/or will assess: (i) effects of eating fish, and balancing the results against possible risks of pollutants in fish; (ii) determining whether a diet deficient in vitamin B12 has any adverse effects on child development; (iii) the effects of genetic components responsible for metabolising the diet, particularly in regard to fatty acids, on child development.