Prenatal nutrition, socioenvironmental conditions, and child development

Prenatal maternal depression symptoms and nutrition, and child cognitive function.

BACKGROUND Little is currently known about how maternal depression symptoms and unhealthy nutrition during pregnancy may developmentally interrelate to negatively affect child cognitive function. AIMS To test whether prenatal maternal depression symptoms predict poor prenatal nutrition, and whether this in turn prospectively associates with reduced postnatal child cognitive function. METHOD...

Prenatal and postnatal nutrition: impact on child health.

DOI:10.1097/MCO.0b013e32836051ad The articles in this paediatric section address nutrition and metabolism during prenatal and postnatal life and their impact on child health. Four articles focus on metabolism and lifestyle during pregnancy and their effects on fetal growth and offspring health. Larqué et al. (pp. 292–297) review present information on the role of the placental transport systems...

Prenatal Exposure to Stress and Stress Hormones Influences Child Development

Stress has significant consequences throughout the lifetime. However, when it occurs early in life, the implications may be particularly profound and long lasting. Evidence suggests that high levels of maternal stress during pregnancy are associated with alterations in the normal activity of the maternal hypothlalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) and placental axis. Increased activity of this...

Prenatal Nutrition and Birth Defects

Evidence of human birth defects dating back over three thousand years is reported in archeological literature. Excavated ruins of ancient Babylon revealed detailed reports of infant defects.1 Achondroplastic dwarfs (failure to develop healthy cartilage at the ends of the long bones, resulting in a form of congenital dwarfism) have been unearthed in ancient Egyptian tombs. Pictures drawn on anci...

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