18/07/2025
The increasing incidences of ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and autism (autism spectrum disorder) are the subject of active research and debate. These increases are well-documented, but whether they reflect a true rise in neurodevelopmental conditions is more nuanced. Now new epidemiological research from Denmark suggests that a mother’s diet during pregnancy might be a key reason behind the increases.
Diet during pregnancy, specifically a Western-style diet high in fat and sugar but low in fresh, whole foods (particularly in early and mid-pregnancy), was found to correlate with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children, including ADHD and autism. The researchers highlighted the potential for dietary interventions during pregnancy to help reduce this risk, and used metabolomics to link causality to their observed correlations. This was a high-level study published in a top journal: Nature Metabolism.
“The greater a woman’s adherence to a Western diet in pregnancy – high in fat, sugar, and refined products while low in fish, vegetables, and fruit—the greater the risk appears to be for her child developing ADHD or autism,” says lead author, Dr David Horner, MD, PhD.
The study used data-driven analysis to identify a Western dietary pattern and its impact on neurodevelopmental risks. Even moderate shifts toward this diet were linked to significantly higher risks. Specifically, a slight move toward a Western diet was associated with a 66% increased risk of ADHD and a 122% increased risk of autism. However, this also suggests a potential benefit: even small dietary changes away from a Western dietary pattern may help lower the risk of these neurodevelopmental disorders.
To reach these findings, researchers analysed dietary patterns, blood samples, and diagnoses across four independent cohorts (one large at 59,725, and three small at around 300-700 each) in Denmark and the United States. Blood samples were also analysed using metabolomics in the three smaller cohorts, providing insights into the biological mechanisms linking diet to neurodevelopmental disorders and serving as a validation for the results.
A link between Western dietary patterns and ADHD was observed across all four cohorts and validated in three of them using three different methods, reinforcing the study’s credibility, according to David Horner.
In one of the cohorts, the prospective general population COPSAC2010 mother-child cohort (n =508), the authors observed strong associations between a western dietary pattern during pregnancy with ADHD and autism diagnoses, as well as related symptom loads for these disorders as clinically assessed in 10-year-old children. From the 43 metabolites associated with a western dietary pattern, a subset of 15 mediating metabolites notably strengthened the association with ADHD diagnosis in external validation.
In the COPSAC2010 and VDAART cohorts, the scientists consistently found dietary metabolite score associations in early-mid-pregnancy had the strongest associations with neurodevelopmental outcomes, suggesting that this may be a particularly sensitive period of neurodevelopment to dietary influences. Finally, they observed that the association of the western dietary pattern during pregnancy with ADHD and autism diagnoses, as well as symptom loads, was markedly stronger in children with a higher genetic predisposition and maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, particularly in male children.
“We found that 15 of these 43 metabolites were particularly linked to the increased risk of ADHD. Many of these metabolites are derived from dietary intake and play key roles in regulating inflammation and oxidative stress, factors believed to be critical in early neurodevelopment,” said David Horner. These included ergothioneine, indolepropionate, a microbial metabolite of dietary tryptophan (both positive), and sphingomyelin (negative).
According to David Horner, this study raises important questions about whether current mainstream dietary guidelines for pregnant women are sufficient. You think??
For more information see: https://scitechdaily.com/eating-this-way-in-pregnancy-may-increase-autism-risk-by-122/
and
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40033007/
