During your pregnancy what you eat (or don’t eat) affects the health of your baby. While this itself may be a well-known fact are you clear on exactly how?
More importantly are you clear (or confused) as to what you can do now to best support your unborn bubs development and in particular brain health?
If you’re curious to find out a few ways’ your nutrition, may impact the health of your baby and practical tips on how you can switch up, add in and tweak things here and there beginning today to give bub the best start to life possible then this one is dedicated to you, beautiful future mamma.
Where the Inspiration for Todays Blog Came From
It’s actually been a long time in the coming because since my best friend gave birth to her first beautiful baby girl last year I have had babies more than a little on my own brain and truly it even dates further back than this with one memory continuously coming to mind while I was researching intelligence and brain development.
I remember one day when I was about 16 or so reading a high school textbook chapter about “designer babies”.
Just briefly, designer babies are exactly as the name implies, babies we design. What this means is we’d essentially get to pick and choose the genes of our offspring based on the physical and mental characteristics we wanted our children to have. That is, not only would we get to pick the eye and hair colour of our babies but also attributes such as intelligence levels and sporting ability.
Even back then as I was reading these pages with fascination my main thought was “wow amazing that we may one day be able to do that but just because we can, should we?” … now I think more along the lines of “wow interesting BUT there is already so much incredible information and knowledge out there on what we can do to improve the health and intelligence of our children naturally that this surely should be our first choice”.
I think this is a much lovelier place to start and the effects equally as profound.
My Thoughts Today, Many Years Later as I Sit and Write This Blog
While we may not know everything there is to know about human nutrition and health, we know enough to make a huge difference if we were to consistently do two things:
- Got the right data.
That is we obtained credible information to begin with, because if you use the wrong data it does not matter how well you follow it, how much effort you put in or how noble your intentions if it’s the wrong data it’s the wrong data and you’re not going anywhere (and sometimes by following the wrong data you’re even harming yourself).
2. We acted on that data.
That is we actually DID the things we know are good for us (and our unborn bubs)… Assuming you have the right data you have to actually apply it to experience the real world benefits. You can have the best nutrition education in the universe but if you don’t apply it, then it has zero value (I know this all too well because I spent 15yrs sick with anorexia nervosa with an incredible depth of nutrition knowledge I was unable to apply)
Maternal Nutrition: What Do We Know?
So, when it comes to maternal nutrition what do we know?
We know it’s important.
We know there are many things we can do nutrition wise to best set our bubs up for a lifetime of health.
I also want to be clear, just quickly, that I am not saying in any way that nutrition is the key determining feature in all or even most of our health outcomes (or your bubs health outcomes) however, it certainly plays an undeniably important role and one worth understanding.
There is no lack of information indicating that nutrition in early life including in the womb has huge effects on health outcomes with findings from many studies showing numerous consistent and long-lasting detrimental effects of undernutrition in early life. A quick sample of which include:
- Increased susceptibility to accumulating fat (mostly around the abdominal area)
- Lower fat oxidation (your body’s ability to breakdown fat to use as a fuel source)
- Lower energy expenditure (lower metabolism)
- Insulin resistance and a greater risk of developing diabetes later in life
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Dyslipidaemia (an abnormal amount of lipids in the blood)
- Lowered working capacity
- Suboptimal brain health
For the remainder of this post we’re going to take a deeper look at the last one of these detrimental effects of undernutrition in early life, number 8- suboptimal brain health, including how maternal nutrition affects your baby’s brain development and some practical tips you can use now to make a real difference.
How Does Nutrition Affect Brain Development?
As an adult your brain makes up about 2% of your body weight whereas in a newborn their brain represents much more of their body weight at about 10%.
During the last third of pregnancy and the first 2 years of life the human brain develops rapidly1 and by 2 years old our brain is about 80% of its adult weight.
Our brains continue to grow and by 6 years it is about 95% of its final size and the grey matter continues to thicken, with peak growth generally reached around puberty (grey matter of the frontal area is principally responsible for higher order functioning including judgement, organisation and planning). Overall our brains are thought to reach full adult size between the age of 6-14years.
Our brains are extremely metabolically active and account for a high percentage (20-25%) of our daily total metabolic rate and in infants the metabolic demands of the brain are even higher.
The brain of a newborn accounts for around 44% of the basal metabolic rate2 with a high rate of glucose (sugar) metabolism persisting up until 10 years and then declining to reach adult levels by 16-18 years old.
So, given all the brain development info what can I do now to ensure I am meeting bubs brain developmental needs?
2 Overarching Tips on Eating for Bubs Best Brain Outcomes
There are numerous areas we could focus on here because of course at the end of the day all the macronutrients and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are absolutely necessary for optimal brain development however to simplify I’m going to keep to two areas today (and will cover other areas in future posts) and these are:
1. Glucose
It is reasonable to assume that during times of rapid growth there are great demands placed on the nutrients needed for brain development.
If nutrition is inadequate, then the structure of the brain will be compromised and when the structure of the brain is compromised the function is, by definition, also compromised the degree to which depends on the severity, timing, duration and type of deficiency.
Glucose (aka sugar or the breakdown product of carbohydrate foods) has had a bad rap recently within the diet community (ok, for quite a while now which means it’s probably coming to an end soon… surely?… ) but it is important! If you’re pregnant and wanting to grow a healthy baby please do not limit your carb intake.
Carbs are our number one source of energy, our brains preferred energy source always and as I’ve described above bubs brain has an even higher quota for this nutrient than yours.
The practical side of choosing the best carb sources is to go for wholegrains, fruits and veg the majority of the time as these are more slowly digested which means the glucose they contain enters your bloodstream slower and crosses the placenta into bubs bloodstream more slowly and evenly also which is a good thing.
A couple of examples of quality carb sources to consider including on a daily basis are:
Wholegrains (brown rice, oats, millet, barley, quinoa, wholegrain bread/pasta, cous cous)
Sweet potato, potato, corn
Most fruit (including papaya, pineapple, apples and bananas)
Yoghurt
2. Fats
Now we’re getting to the super interesting area of brain growth and development, fats because while our brains prefer to use glucose (carbs) as a fuel source it is fat which makes up over 60% of the weight of our brains and specifically fat which makes up about 80% of each individual nerve cell.
To me this is a pretty undeniably large clue that fat is indeed important when we’re talking brain health be yours or your bubs. However, it’s especially true for bub because his/her brain is literally being built from the raw materials you supply through your diet.
The fats you want to focus on are the polyunsaturated fats, in particular omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
You may have heard these referred to as the essential fatty acids meaning they are not made within your body at all and must be supplied through the diet.
Why are they important? Because long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) are precursors of signalling molecules and are also essential for motor and cognitive development3-5 being that they play an important structural role in the cell membranes of your neurons (as well as the cell membranes of all cells throughout your body and not just your brain). In this role they allow for a more fluid membrane which in turn allows for quicker and smoother communication and coordination of impulses from cell to cell be the results of this your thoughts, movement or other.
In a study of 11 875 pregnant women the consumption of seafood was associated with greater pro-social behaviour, better fine motor control (fine movements such as using scissors), social development scores and higher verbal intelligence at 8 years of age6. Another study published in 2015 and conducted in the Netherlands reported that children born to mothers who had a higher intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fats during pregnancy had fewer emotional problems at age 67.
What this translates to in daily life is looking at including a regular intake of food sources which contain good amounts of the polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Some examples of good sources of essential fatty acids include:
Seafood (in particular fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines and tuna)
Nuts and seeds (including tahini, flaxseed, chia seeds, brazil nuts, pinenuts and walnuts)
Main Takeaways
Knowing what to eat for your optimal health can be hard enough without the pressure of also being responsible for eating for the optimal health of the most important human in the world to you, your unborn bub.
Therefore, more than adding confusion on top of confusion I simply want you to takeaway two main message from today’s blog and that is when it comes to bubs brain health it’s important you ensure you are consuming 1. enough energy and 2. a good amount of polyunsaturated fats.
Because while this is just the tip of the iceberg if you’re doing this on a daily basis that’s a solid foundation.
If you are doing this and including an adequate, consistent and variety of foods options your intake of the other micronutrients will likely be good also. However, if you’re concerned or would like further clarification and information tailored to your unique situation, circumstance, values and needs please consider making the phone call to arrange a consult with an expert in human nutrition (aka a Dietitian).
Chances are high you will gain more than you can yet imagine possible by making that investment because if I had .0000001 of a cent for the number of times I’ve heard variations of the sentence “I didn’t see the point of seeing a Dietitian until I saw you” I’d be a very rich woman.
In any case pregnancy is one of those times that without any hesitation no matter who you are, where you live, what you do, how busy you are or even how many babies you’ve had before this one I’d always encourage you to see a Dietitian.
You won’t know just how much you have to gain until you’ve done it (probably might not change eye colour too much but brains maybe…).
With My Whole Heart I Hope You Found This Information Useful and Inspiring.
Become Great. Live Great.
Bonnie.
Reference
1. Benton D. The influence of children’s diet on their cognition and behaviour. Eur J Nutr. 2008. 47[Suppl 3]:25–37.
2. Durnin JVGA (1981) Basal metabolic rate in man. Joint FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation on energy and protein requirements.
3.German JB. Dietary lipids from an evolutionary perspective: sources, structures and functions. Matern Child Nutr. 2011;7 Suppl 2:2–16.
4.Gibson RA, Muhlhausler B, Makrides M. Conversion of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid to long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), with a focus on pregnancy, lactation and the first 2 years of life. Matern Child Nutr. 2011;7 Suppl 2:17–26.
5.Uauy R, Mena P, Rojas C. Essential fatty acids in early life: structural and functional role. Proc Nutr Soc. 2000;59:3–15.
6. Hibbeln JR, Davis JM, Steer C, Emmett P, Rogers I, Williams C, Golding J. Maternal seafood consumption in pregnancy and neurodevelopment outcomes in childhood (ALSPAC study): an observational cohort study. Lancet. 2007;369:578–585
7. Steenweg-de Graaff JC, Tiemeier H, Basten MG, Rijlaarsdam J, Demmelmair H, Koletzko B, Hofman A, Jaddoe VW, Verhulst FC, Roza SJ. Maternal LC-PUFA status during pregnancy and child problem behavior: the Generation R Study. Pediatr Res. 2015;77:489.
