About 57 % of the pregnant European women have 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations below 50 nmol/l. However, as data on the impact of gestational vitamin D deficiency on maternal and fetal health are limited, the WHO does not advocate vitamin D supplementation as part of routine antenatal care. We explored associations between first trimester maternal 25(OH)D status and childhood cognition at 5–6 years of age (n 1854, primarily Caucasian). Median serum 25(OH)D was determined at 13 (interquartile range 12–14) weeks of gestation. Childhood attention, motor fluency and flexibility and executive function were assessed using the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks. Restricted cubic splines and linear regression analyses were used to analyse the data while adjusting for many maternal and child related covariates. Higher 25(OH)D status (nmol/l) was associated with better attention and executive functioning as shown by a faster reaction time (β −0·30 (sd 0·14) ms, P=0·03), faster response speed (β −0·58 (sd 0·21) ms, P=0·006), and better response speed stability (β −0·45 (sd 0·17) ms, P=0·009). No associations were observed of serum 25(OH)D with motor fluency and flexibility. Associations were most pronounced among children of African origin (n 205) as compared with those of Caucasian or another origin, for example attention (reaction time, β −2·06 (sd 0·70) ms, P=0·004) and executive function (response speed, β −1·95 (sd 0·94) ms, P=0·04). Concluding, maternal 25(OH)D status was significantly associated with childhood attention and executive function, while no associations were observed for 25(OH)D status with motor fluency and flexibility.

Previous studies on maternal nutrition and childhood leukaemia risk have focused on the role of specific nutrients such as folate and have not considered broader measures of diet quality, which may better capture intake of diverse nutrients known to impact fetal development. We examined the relationship between maternal diet quality before pregnancy, as summarised by a diet quality index, and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in a case–control study in California. Dietary intake in the year before pregnancy was assessed using FFQ in 681 ALL cases, 103 AML cases and 1076 matched controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate OR and 95 % CI for diet quality continuous score and quartiles (Q1–Q4). Higher maternal diet quality score was associated with reduced risk of ALL (OR 0·66; 95 % CI 0·47, 0·93 for Q4 v. Q1) and possibly AML (OR 0·42; 95 % CI 0·15, 1·15 for Q4 v. Q1). No single index component appeared to account for the association. The association of maternal diet quality with risk of ALL was stronger in children diagnosed under the age of 5 years and in children of women who did not report using vitamin supplements before pregnancy. These findings suggest that the joint effects of many dietary components may be important in influencing childhood leukaemia risk.

Maternal nutrition during pregnancy has a significant influence in establishing patterns of metabolism and postnatal behaviours in offspring, and therefore shapes their risk of developing disorders in later life. Although it is well established that a mismatch between food consumption and energy expenditure leads to obesity and metabolic dysregulation, little research has investigated the biological origin of such behaviour. We conducted the present experiments to investigate effects of early-life nutrition on preference between wheel running and lever pressing for food during adult life. To address this issue we employed a well-established experimental approach in the rat which has shown that offspring of mothers undernourished during pregnancy develop obesity and metabolic disorders when kept under standard laboratory conditions. Using this experimental approach, two studies were conducted where offspring of ad libitum-fed dams and dams undernourished throughout pregnancy were given the choice between wheel running and pressing a response lever for food. Across subsequent conditions, the rate at which the response lever provided food was varied from 0·22 to 6·0 (study 1) and 0·19 to 3·0 (study 2) pellets per min. Compared with the control group, offspring from dams undernourished during pregnancy showed a consistently greater preference for running over lever pressing for food throughout both experiments of the study. The results of the present study provide experimental evidence that a mother's nutrition during pregnancy can result in a long-term shift in her offspring's lifestyle choices that are relevant to obesity prevention. Such a shift, if endorsed, will have substantial and wide-ranging health consequences throughout the lifespan.