Choline Intake During Pregnancy Impacts Children’s Sustained Attention: Study

Children whose mothers consumed twice the recommended amount of choline during their pregnancy have better concentration in doing work compared to those whose mothers consumed only the recommended amount, a study has found. Over 90 percent of expectant mothers usually consume less than the recommended amount of choline, said a new Cornell University study, recently published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Based on the finding, the study recommends that choline should be added to a standard prenatal vitamin regimen.

Choline is an essential nutrient for humans. It is similar to B Vitamins and is found in foods such as meats, egg yolks, fish, nuts, beans, vegetables, and eggs. Choline is important in the nervous system and for the development of normal brain functioning.

The recommended choline intake by expectant mothers does not completely meet the needs of the fetal brain, say the findings. The study found that adding extra choline to the maternal diet produces long-term cognitive benefits for the offspring.

“In addition to improving offspring’s attention and memory throughout life, maternal choline supplementation in rodents has proven to be neuroprotective for the offspring by mitigating the cognitive adversities,” the study said.

In the study, women were asked to consume a prepared diet with a fixed amount of choline throughout the third trimester of pregnancy. One-half of these women consumed 480 mg choline daily and the other half consumed a total intake of 930 mg choline per day. The recommended adequate intake (AI) of choline level of 450 mg/day.

“When tested at 7 years of age, the children of women in the 480 mg/day group showed a decline in inaccuracy from the beginning to the end of a sustained attention task, while those from the 930 mg/day group maintained a high level of accuracy throughout the task,” the study found.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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