Do Breastfeeding History and Diet Quality Predict Inhibitory Control at Preschool Age?

Abstract

Inhibitory control is the ability to control impulsive behavior. It is associated with a range of mental and physical health outcomes, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance dependence. Breastfeeding and healthy dietary patterns have been associated with better executive functions, of which inhibitory control is part. Additionally, breastfeeding has been associated with healthy dietary patterns. Following our preregistration in the Open Science Framework, we investigated the associations between breastfeeding history and inhibitory control at preschool age, with habitual diet quality as a potential mediating factor. A total of 72 families from a longitudinal study participated at child age 3. Breastfeeding questionnaires were administered at 2, 6, and 12 weeks, and at 12 and 36 months. Six inhibitory control tasks were performed during a home visit, and questionnaires were filled in by both parents. Diet quality at age 3 was assessed via three unannounced 24-h recalls. Structural equation modelling was performed in R. This study did not provide evidence that breastfeeding history is associated with inhibitory control in 3-year-old children. Furthermore, diet quality at age 3 did not mediate the link between breastfeeding history and inhibitory control. Previous studies have investigated broader aspects of inhibitory control, such as executive functions, and used different methods to assess nutritional intake, which might explain our differential findings. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on associations between nutrition and behavior. Future replications with larger and more diverse preschool samples are recommended.

Development of the gut microbiota in healthy children in the first ten years of life: associations with internalizing and externalizing behavior

“… 61 However, in this study, it is unknown if the increased level of Prevotella _9 is caused by breastfeeding or other relevant dietary factors. In a recent study based on another population, we found that longer exclusive breastfeeding duration was associated with a healthier child diet at age 3 years, 62 note though that, as mentioned before, diet at age 10 was unrelated to child gut microbiota. Further studies aiming to validate this association and explore causality are hence needed to clarify these issues.…”

Cortisol and testosterone concentrations during the prenatal and postpartum period forecast later caregiving quality in mothers and fathers

“…Finally, while during the prenatal and postpartum assessment rounds all mothers and fathers were assessed in the late afternoon and early evening to control for the circadian variation in CORT and T concentrations, the visits during toddlerhood took place in the morning and in the afternoon. This was because the main focus of this visit was to investigate children's executive functioning and we aimed to test children to the best of their abilities (for more information on the procedure and content of the visit, see Willemsen et al, 2021). Though we controlled for assessment time when investigating maternal and paternal toddlerhood CORT and T associations with caregiving quality, future research should aim to restrict assessment times to the second part of the day when cortisol concentrations are slowly decreasing (Adam et al, 2017).…”

Fucosylated Human Milk Oligosaccharides during the First 12 Postnatal Weeks Are Associated with Better Executive Functions in Toddlers

“…In addition, home visits took place, where child inhibitory control was assessed by a trained examiner through six inhibitory control tasks. For more information on the procedure and content of the visit, see Willemsen et al [ 43 ].…”

“…The Ratings of Everyday Executive Functioning (REEF) is less commonly used and rates child executive functions in different situations (e.g., executive functions around friends, during grocery shopping, or in the community). Because of their different assessment methods, and because previous literature showed different outcomes between the two questionnaires [ 43 ], we included both in our research.…”

“…Due to insufficient variation and low number of children that passed the practice trials in the Snack Delay task (to measure delay of gratification) [ 51 , 52 ] and the Bear Dragon task (to measure go/no-go) [ 51 , 53 ], respectively, these tasks were excluded from the analyses [ 43 ].…”