Med diet or meditation while pregnant may give bub's brain a boost

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-23 01:00

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A Spanish 'gold standard' clinical trial of 626 children and their mothers found that when the mums-to-be were on a Mediterrannean-style diet during pregnancy, including free olive oil and walnuts provided by the researchers, their kids did better in tests of their thinking abilities at age two, and they were also more sociable and better at controlling their emotions, compared with kids whose mums had been on a normal diet. The researchers also looked at the effects of women undertaking an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program during pregnancy, finding their kids were more sociable and better at controlling their emotions at age two than children of women who did not meditate. Mindfulness did not appear to affect kids' thinking abilities though.

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From: JAMA

Effect of a Mediterranean Diet or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction During Pregnancy on Child Neurodevelopment

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial that included 626 children, maternal structured lifestyle interventions during pregnancy based on a Mediterranean diet or mindfulness-based stress reduction significantly improved child neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 2.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

Funder: The project was partially funded by la Caixa Foundation (LCF/PR/ GN18/10310003), Cerebra Foundation for the Brain Injured Child, ASISA Foundation; Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris (2017 SGR No. 1531), and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI18/00073), cofunded by the European Union. Dr Crovetto has received support from Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red sobre Enfermedades Raras. Dr Nakaki has received support from a fellowship from la Caixa Foundation (LCF/BQ/DR19/ 11740018). Drs Paules and Vellvé were supported by a research grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (JR19/00006; CM19/00140) cofunded by the European Union. Dr Castro-Barquero has received support from Margarita Salas fellowship of the University of Barcelona. The Fundació Jesús Serra of the Grup Catalana Occident supported this project through the Fundació Jesús Serra Research Prize in the clinical category awarded to the Fàtima Crispi in its 4th edition for the project titled “Cardiovascular Prevention from Fetal Life: Benefits of Mediterranean Diet During Gestation.”

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