There’s a lot of focus on the food that pregnant women eat and how it can help or hinder the physical development of their unborn child.
What’s not discussed as fluently is the fact that what you eat during pregnancy may influence whether or not your child will develop behavioural problems as they grow up.
"What we put in our mouth is of relevance not just to our physical health but our mental health and brain health," says Professor Felice Jacka, director of the in Australia.
Prof Jacka reminds pregnant Australians there’s an evidence-based link between the food a mother consumes during pregnancy and the emotional health of their child. Prof Jacka was involved in discovering this link, when she led a research team who conducted a ground-breaking
Emotional regulation in the early years is kind of a marker for vulnerability for mental health problems later on.
The study shows that a woman’s poor diet during pregnancy could lead to her child developing aggressive or hyperactive behaviours, or experiencing conduct issues – all of which could be related to a mental disorder.
“We did the first study involving over 23,000 women and their children showing that what mothers eat during pregnancy, as well as what children eat in the first few years of life, is clearly linked to children’s emotional behaviour and emotional regulation,” Prof Jacka tells SBS.
“Emotional regulation in the early years is kind of a marker for vulnerability for mental health problems later on.
“We showed [this clear link] for women who had diets higher in junk and processed food, even when we took factors such as income, education and a mother’s own mental health into account.”
The study recruited women between 1999 and 2008. The research team, led by Prof Jacka, looked at the data of mothers collected during pregnancy and when children were six months old, 18 months, three years and five years old. They examined the children’s development in the way they internalised and externalised problems from 1.5 years to age five.
Researchers then looked at diet quality, which was characterised as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. A healthy pattern of eating was characterised by a high intake of vegetables, fruit, high-fibre cereals, and vegetable oils. An unhealthy pattern featured a high intake of processed meat products, refined cereals, sweet drinks, and salty snacks.
These behaviours are established early markers for later mental health problems.
The study showed that “higher intakes of unhealthy foods during pregnancy predicted externalising problems among children, independently of other potential confounding factors and childhood diet”.
“Children with a high level of unhealthy diet postnatally had higher levels of both internalising and externalising problems,” “Children with a low level of postnatal healthy diet also had higher levels of both internalising and externalising problems.”
A later UK study, , replicated this finding. The study assessed over 7,800 mother-child pairs to look for independent risk factors for abnormal child development. It found that an unhealthy diet during pregnancy and after birth was linked to child emotional-behavioural dysregulation (at age two, four and seven years).
Research published in the also concludes that better maternal diet quality during pregnancy could be linked to improved child neurodevelopment outcomes.
The Norwegian study also shows that the diets of children, after birth, are also important for their emotional health.
As part of the data collection conducted in the study, participating mothers described the diets of their children at 18 months and three years old. Both an increased intake of unhealthy foods and a decreased intake of nutrient-rich foods in early childhood was independently related to children showing high internalising and externalising behaviours.
“These behaviours are established early markers for later mental health problems," the study. “In addition, children whose mothers had higher intakes of unhealthy foods during pregnancy displayed higher levels of externalising behaviours."
Early life nutrition – from pre-conception through childhood – is important in influencing the risk for mental health problems in children as they grow.
According to pregnancy advice issued on the , it's recommended that pregnant women do their best to eat good quality foods and avoid junk or highly processed foods because "junk foods consumed on top of a fairly healthy diet may still have a negative impact".
"Early life nutrition – from pre-conception through childhood – is important in influencing the risk for mental health problems in children as they grow," the site reads.
The centre stresses that scientists can not pinpoint specific causes of mental disorders or say for certain "whether it was what your parents ate or didn’t eat that caused any problems, because genetics plays an important role, along with other environmental factors and illnesses".
"We think diet is important though, and if you are planning a baby, and have control over your diet, then a healthy diet will likely benefit everyone’s health..." the site states.
