Special Needs News: ADHD In Children Linked To Unhealthy Diet of Pregnant Mothers

A study has revealed another reason for expecting mothers to maintain a healthy diet during the course of their pregnancy. The study was done by researchers from King's College London and University of Bristol revealed that a pregnancy diet that is high in fat and sugar could be related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children who show problematic conduct in their early lives.

The Guardian reported that this research effort may be the first ever to suggest that an unhealthy diet during pregnancy can lead to changes in the DNA of an unborn baby which could then result to brain modification in the unborn child and eventual ADHD after birth. The researchers compared 83 children who had early-onset conduct problems with 81 children with low levels of conduct problems.

According to a report in EurekAlert, the researchers examined how the mother's nutrition during pregnancy altered IGF2, which is a gene active in fetal development and the development of the brain's cerebellum and hippocampus. These brain areas are the ones involved with ADHD. A high fat and high sugar diet during pregnancy was linked to greater changes in IGF2 in both groups of children.

Besides this, greater changes in the IGF2 gene were found to be associated with increased ADHD symptoms in children who had early-onset conduct problems aged seven to 13. The report said that more than 40 percent of children in the United Kingdom diagnosed with conduct disorder were also diagnosed with ADHD.

"Our finding that poor prenatal nutrition was associated with higher IGF2 methylation highlights the critical importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy," said Dr. Edward Barker, as per a report in MedicalXpress. Barker, who is from King's College London, added that their findings suggest that ADHD symptoms and conduct problems in children can be decreased by a healthy diet during pregnancy.