https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1244-4488
![Sample our Bioscience journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5925/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Bioscience.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Objectives
Lower maternal metal intake during pregnancy might affect childhood development. The current prebirth cohort study investigated the relationship between maternal intake of zinc, magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese during pregnancy and behavioral problems in Japanese children aged five years.
Methods
Subjects were 1199 mother–child pairs. Dietary intake during the preceding month was assessed using a diet history questionnaire. Emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, and peer problems and low prosocial behavior were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Maternal age, gestation at baseline, region of residence, number of children, maternal and paternal education, household income, maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy, maternal alcohol intake during pregnancy, maternal smoking during pregnancy, child’s birth weight, child’s sex, breastfeeding duration, smoking in the household during the first year of life, and some dietary confounders that were associated with outcomes under study in this population were adjusted for.
Results
Compared with maternal magnesium intake during pregnancy in the first quartile, magnesium intake in the second, third, and fourth quartiles was independently inversely related to childhood hyperactivity problems, but not to emotional, conduct, or peer problems or low prosocial behavior: the adjusted odds ratio between extreme quartiles was 0.48 (95% confidence interval: 0.23−0.99, P for trend = 0.04). No evident associations were observed between maternal intake of zinc, iron, copper, or manganese during pregnancy and childhood emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, or peer problems or low prosocial behavior.
Conclusions
The present study suggests that higher maternal magnesium intake during pregnancy is inversely associated with hyperactivity problems in Japanese children.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethics approval
The ethics committees of Fukuoka University School of Medicine and Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine approved the Kyushu Okinawa Maternal and Child Health Study.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Yoshihiro Miyake
Yoshihiro Miyake is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan. He has a MD, PhD and an epidemiologist. He is a principal investigator of several projects such as the Kyushu Okinawa Maternal and Child Health Study, Aidai Cohort Study, and Japan Ulcerative Colitis Study.
Keiko Tanaka
Keiko Tanaka is a Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan. She has a DDS, PhD and an epidemiologist. She is a co-principal investigator of several projects such as the Kyushu Okinawa Maternal and Child Health Study, Aidai Cohort Study, and Japan Ulcerative Colitis Study.
Hitomi Okubo
Hitomi Okubo has a PhD and a nutritional epidemiologist. She has an interest in maternal and child health.
Satoshi Sasaki
Satoshi Sasaki is a Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. He has a MD, PhD and a nutritional epidemiologist. He developed the Diet History Questionnaire.
Akiko Tokinobu
Akiko Tokinobu has a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery and PhD and is a Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan.
Masashi Arakawa
Masashi Arakawa is a Professor in the Wellness Research Fields, Faculty of Global and Regional Studies, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan and has a PhD. He has an interest in health tourism.