title: Cognitive Enhancement in Infants Associated with Increased Maternal Fruit Intake During Pregnancy: Results from a Birth Cohort Study with Validation in an Animal Model.
abstract: In-utero nutrition is an under-studied aspect of cognitive development. Fruit has been an important dietary constituent for early hominins and humans. Among 808 eligible CHILD-Edmonton sub-cohort subjects, 688 (85%) had 1-year cognitive outcome data. We found that each maternal daily serving of fruit (sum of fruit plus 100% fruit juice) consumed during pregnancy was associated with a 2.38 point increase in 1-year cognitive development (95% CI 0.39, 4.37; p<0.05). Consistent with this, we found 30% higher learning Performance index (PI) scores in Drosophila offspring from parents who consumed 30% fruit juice supplementation prenatally (PI: 85.7; SE 1.8; p<0.05) compared to the offspring of standard diet parents (PI: 65.0 SE 3.4). Using the Drosophila model, we also show that the cyclic adenylate monophosphate (cAMP) pathway may be a major regulator of this effect, as prenatal fruit associated cognitive enhancement was blocked in Drosophila rutabaga mutants with reduced Ca(2+)-Calmodulin-dependent adenylyl cyclase. Moreover, gestation is a critical time for this effect as postnatal fruit intake did not enhance cognitive performance in either humans or Drosophila. Our study supports increased fruit consumption during pregnancy with significant increases in infant cognitive performance. Validation in Drosophila helps control for potential participant bias or unmeasured confounders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: fbolduc@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Francois V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Bolduc
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Cory S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Rosenfelt
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smithson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lefebvre
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: R Todd
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Clayton T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Manitoba Institute of Child Health, University of Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Allan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Padmaja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Subbarao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Stuart E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Turvey
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada.
authors.forename: Malcolm R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Sears
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: mandhane@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Piush J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Mandhane
authors.affiliation: Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study, Canada.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D000067030:Fruit and Vegetable Juices; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007858:Learning; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D023421:Models, Animal; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000242:Cyclic AMP
keywords: Birth cohort; Drosophila learning; Fruit; Gestational diet