Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects communication, social interaction and behaviour. Symptoms generally appear in early childhood, often before the age of three, and persist throughout life. The term ‘spectrum’ underlines the great variability in the manifestations and levels of severity of autism. The study entitled ‘Healthy Prenatal Dietary Pattern and Offspring Autism’ explored the association between prenatal dietary habits and the diagnosis of autism, as well as the traits associated with autism in children. This research was carried out using data from two large prospective cohorts: the Norwegian Mother Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
The aims of the study were to determine whether a healthy prenatal diet could be associated with a reduced risk of autism diagnosis and social communication difficulties in children. The participants were women with singleton pregnancies who completed food frequency questionnaires.
The primary exposure studied was adherence to a healthy prenatal diet, derived by factor analysis and modelled as low, medium or high adherence. The primary outcomes measured included diagnosis of autism and a high score on the social communication questionnaire at ages 3 and 8 for MoBa, and a high score on a checklist of social communication difficulties at age 8 for ALSPAC. The final adjusted results showed that high adherence to a healthy diet during pregnancy was associated with reduced odds of diagnosis of autism and social communication difficulties at age 3 in MoBa and at age 8 in ALSPAC.
These results suggest that a healthy prenatal diet may play a protective role against the development of autism and social communication difficulties in children. However, the study did not find a consistent association with restrictive and repetitive behaviours, indicating that the beneficial effect of prenatal diet may be specific to certain aspects of the autism spectrum.
In conclusion, adherence to a healthy diet during pregnancy appears to be associated with a reduced risk of autism diagnosis and social communication difficulties in children, but further research is needed to confirm these results and explore the underlying mechanisms.
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