Associations between Prenatal and Early Childhood Fish and Processed Food Intake, Conduct Problems, and Co-Occurring Difficulties

Abstract

Little is known about early life diet as a risk factor for early-onset persistent conduct problems (EOP CP). To investigate this, we used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a UK-based prospective epidemiological birth cohort. 5,727 mother-child pairs (49.9% boys) monitored since pregnancy (delivery date between 1 April, 1991 and 31 December, 1992) reported intake of fish and processed foods at 32 weeks gestation and, for the child, at 3 years; EOP (n=666) and Low conduct problem (Low CP, n=5,061) trajectories were measured from 4-13 years; hyperactivity and emotional difficulties were assessed in childhood (4-10 years) and early adolescence (12-13 years), in addition to potential confounding factors (family adversity, birth complications, income). Compared to Low CP, mothers of EOP children consumed less fish (p<.01) and more processed food (p<.05) prenatally, while EOP children consumed more processed food at 3 years (p<.05). For EOP, but not Low CP children, consuming less than two servings/week of fish (vs. two or more servings/week, p<.05), and one or more servings/day of processed food (vs. less than one serving/day, p<.01), was associated with higher emotional difficulties in early adolescence. Conclusions Findings suggest that prenatal and postnatal diets high in processed food, and low in fish, associate with an EOP CP trajectory and co-occurring difficulties in early adolescence. As small effect size differences were found, further studies are needed to investigate the long-term impact of early unhealthy diet.

Estimating the Strength of Associations Between Prenatal Diet Quality and Child Developmental Outcomes: Results From a Large Prospective Pregnancy Cohort Study

“…These results are consistent with the finding from a recent meta-analysis of studies on maternal diet quality and child development in Western industrialized countries published up to November 2016 (23). The results are also in agreement with more recent studies reporting associations between prenatal diet quality and less child hyperactivity (66, 67), fewer emotional problems (66), and higher verbal and full-scale intelligence quotient (68).…”

Parental Time of Returning Home From Work and Child Mental Health Among First-Year Primary School Students in Japan: Result From A-CHILD Study

“…Previous observational studies on risk of SDQ among children also reported smaller effect size. For example, a previous study of the associations between early childhood fish and processed food consumption and conduct problems assessed by SDQ reported the effect sizes of η 2 = 0.001, which can be interpret that effect of fish and processed food explained 0.1% of child SDQ ( 36 ). Thus, although the impact of late or irregular parental time retuning home is small, it cannot be ignored as other important risk factors on child behavior problems showed similar effect size.…”

The associations between maternal and child diet quality and child ADHD – findings from a large Norwegian pregnancy cohort study

“…This is in line with the small association estimates found in a previous review and meta-analysis investigating maternal diet quality and child neurodevelopmental outcomes. More recently, Mesirow and colleagues [ 70 ] studied aspects of maternal diet quality in relation to child behavioural issues in children with either low conduct problems or early-onset persistent conduct problems. They found that, specifically for children presenting with early-onset conduct problems, mothers had a poorer diet quality (lower fish intake, higher processed food consumption) compared to mothers with children having low conduct problems.…”