Maternal fat intake in pregnancy and risk of depressive symptoms in Japanese adolescents: the Kyushu Okinawa Maternal and Child Health Study

Abstract

The current prebirth cohort study investigated the association between maternal intake of specific types of fatty acids during pregnancy and adolescent depressive symptoms based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Subjects were 873 mother–child pairs. Dietary intake during the preceding month was assessed using a self-administered diet history questionnaire. The risk of depressive symptoms was 23.3% among the 873 adolescents at 13 years of age. Higher maternal saturated fatty acid intake during pregnancy was independently associated with a reduced risk of depressive symptoms in adolescents. Maternal intake of total fat, monounsaturated fatty acids, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid and cholesterol during pregnancy was not significantly related to depressive symptoms in adolescents. Higher maternal intake of saturated fatty acids during pregnancy may be inversely associated with adolescent depressive symptoms.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• depressive symptoms
• maternal intake
• pregnancy
• saturated fatty acids

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Kyushu Branch of the Japan Allergy Foundation, the Fukuoka Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Okinawa Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Miyazaki Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Oita Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Kumamoto Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Nagasaki Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Kagoshima Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Saga Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Fukuoka Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Okinawa Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Fukuoka City Government and the Fukuoka City Medical Association for their valuable support.

Disclosure statement

Y.M. and K.T. were financially supported by Meiji Co. Ltd. The other authors have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Data not available due to ethical restrictions.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 19590606JP, 20791654JP, 21590673JP, 22592355JP, 22119507JP, 24390158JP, 25463275JP, 25670305JP, 17K12011JP, 17H04135JP and 21H03199; by AMED under Grant Numbers JP22gk0110039, JP23gn0110039, JP23gn0110079, JP24gn0110088 and JP24gn0110079; by Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants for Research on Allergic Disease and Immunology and Health Research on Children, Youth and Families from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan; by Meiji Co. Ltd.; and by the Food Science Institute Foundation (Ryoushoku-kenkyukai).