A mother’s diet during pregnancy can affect her baby’s brain development. A study showed that diets rich in ultra-processed foods, sugar and fats increase the risk of ADHD and autism in children. Researchers followed mothers and children for 10 years and identified substances in the blood linked to these disorders. The findings suggest that a balanced diet during pregnancy can help protect babies’ neurological development.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.
Although its causes are complex and involve genetic and environmental factors, recent studies suggest that diet during pregnancy can influence the risk of developing this disorder and other neuropsychiatric conditions, such as autism.
Maternal nutrition plays an essential role in the formation of the fetal brain, as it provides the nutrients necessary for the growth and functioning of brain cells.
An imbalance in diet can affect important processes, such as the formation of neural connections and the regulation of neurotransmitters, increasing vulnerability to mental disorders in childhood.
Researchers have analyzed how maternal diet during pregnancy can influence children’s neurological development, focusing especially on the impact of the so-called “Western dietary pattern”, characterized by high consumption of ultra-processed foods, rich in saturated fats, sugars and chemical additives.
In the study, the dietary patterns of 508 pregnant women were assessed in the 24th week of pregnancy and compared with the presence of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD and autism, when the children reached 10 years of age.
To validate the findings, the researchers analyzed three other large studies involving thousands of mothers and children, a total of 59,725 participants, using not only dietary reports, but also biochemical tests of maternal and fetal blood.
The researchers analyzed blood samples to identify substances that help to understand how the mother’s diet can influence the development of the baby’s brain. This test also served to confirm the relationship between diet during pregnancy and the risk of disorders such as ADHD and autism.
The results showed a significant association between a poorly balanced maternal diet and an increased risk of ADHD and autism in the offspring. Even small changes towards a Western diet were correlated with a 66% increased risk of ADHD and a 122% increased risk of autism.
Researchers identified 43 specific metabolites in maternal blood that were linked to the Western diet and may help to explain the connection between diet and neurodevelopmental disorders. Detailed analysis identified 15 of these that may be directly involved in the predisposition to ADHD.
These substances act as metabolic indicators of diet and were consistently detected in the blood of both mothers and fetuses, especially in early and mid-pregnancy.
This finding reinforces the idea that maternal nutrition plays a fundamental role in regulating the baby's brain development and suggests that nutritional interventions during pregnancy may be a promising strategy to reduce the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.
The researchers emphasize the need for greater awareness of the importance of prenatal nutrition and recommend that pregnant women adopt balanced diets rich in nutrients essential for healthy fetal brain development.
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A western dietary pattern during pregnancy is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and adolescence
David Horner, Jens Richardt M. Jepsen, Bo Chawes, Kristina Aagaard, Julie B. Rosenberg, Parisa Mohammadzadeh, Astrid Sevelsted, Nilo Vahman, Rebecca Vinding, Birgitte Fagerlund, Christos Pantelis, Niels Bilenberg, Casper-Emil T. Pedersen, Anders Eliasen, Sarah Brandt, Yulu Chen, Nicole Prince, Su H. Chu, Rachel S. Kelly, Jessica Lasky-Su, Thorhallur I. Halldorsson, Marin Strøm, Katrine Strandberg-Larsen, Sjurdur F. Olsen, Birte Y. Glenthøj, Klaus Bønnelykke, Bjørn H. Ebdrup, Jakob Stokholm & Morten Arendt Rasmussen
Nature Metabolism (2025). Published: 03 March 2025
Abstract:
Despite the high prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders, the influence of maternal diet during pregnancy on child neurodevelopment remains understudied. Here we show that a western dietary pattern during pregnancy is associated with child neurodevelopmental disorders. We analyse self-reported maternal dietary patterns at 24 weeks of pregnancy and clinically evaluated neurodevelopmental disorders at 10 years of age in the COPSAC2010 cohort (n = 508). We find significant associations with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism diagnoses. We validate the ADHD findings in three large, independent mother–child cohorts (n = 59,725, n = 656 and n = 348) through self-reported dietary modelling, maternal blood metabolomics and foetal blood metabolomics. Metabolome analyses identify 15 mediating metabolites in pregnancy that improve ADHD prediction. Longitudinal blood metabolome analyses, incorporating five time points per cohort in two independent cohorts, reveal that associations between western dietary pattern metabolite scores and neurodevelopmental outcomes are consistently significant in early–mid-pregnancy. These findings highlight the potential for targeted prenatal dietary interventions to prevent neurodevelopmental disorders and emphasise the importance of early intervention.
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