Study Reveals Maternal Inflammation Risk Factors for Kids’ Behaviors, Emotion Regul

We all know that inflammation is a natural reaction to foreign invaders within the body. And we also understand that chronic inflammation can bring about a host of problems. What has yet to be thoroughly explored is exactly how inflammation in a pregnant woman affects her child after it’s born.

This is precisely what the new research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in December 2023 aimed to uncover. And the findings indicate that “maternal inflammation risk factors may be linked to dysregulation in children,” as stated in a press release from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health, which funded this study.

In a nutshell, the study authors concluded that inflammation during pregnancy can lead to behavioral and emotional issues in children. This makes it of utmost importance for pregnant women to control inflammation by following a healthy pregnancy diet and taking the proper prenatal vitamins, among other ways to ensure they are in the best possible condition for both themselves and the child.

Study: Maternal Inflammation and Children’s Health

As noted, the ECHO Program embarked on this cohort study, examining “perinatal factors known to be associated with maternal and neonatal inflammation.” This was done by looking at 18 other cohorts that had both Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) data on children (6-18 years) and information on perinatal exposures including maternal prenatal infections. They then analyzed each child’s “CBCL–Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP),” which includes data on attention, anxiety and depression markers, and aggression.

What did they discover? Around 13.4 percent of the 4,595 children in the cohort met the criteria for having a dysregulation profile. In other words, these children were dealing with behavioral and emotional problems that could potentially be associated with maternal inflammation. Boys were also more affected than girls.

In addition, 35 percent of youths with CBCL-DP had mothers with prenatal infections leading up to birth, while just 28 percent of the children without CBCL-DP had mothers with prenatal infections.

After thoroughly analyzing all the data, the ECHO team found that the following maternal inflammation risk factors were associated with behavioral and emotional dysregulation in children:

• Having a first-degree relative with a psychiatric disorder.
• Being born to a mother with lower educational attainment, who was obese, had any prenatal infection, and/or who smoked tobacco during pregnancy.

“Addressing factors and treating conditions associated with behavior challenges can potentially help improve the outcomes for these children,” said Jean Frazier, M.D., from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and a leader of the study in the press release.

Keys to a Healthy Pregnancy

This news highlights just how crucial a mother’s health is to her children. Here are some additional tips to combat inflammation during pregnancy and ensure a healthy pregnancy:

• During pregnancy, eat a balanced diet that consists of high-quality protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates.
• Don’t overly consume extra calories and keep empty calories to a minimum.
• Fill your plate with a colorful assortment of fruits and vegetables.
• Stay well-hydrated.
• Include in your diet organic free-range eggs, wild-caught salmon, organ meats, nuts and seeds, yogurt and kefir, beans, lentils, and grains.
• Take prenatal vitamins such as iron, folate, calcium, vitamin D, choline, DHA, and probiotics.
• Avoid deli meat, raw or smoked seafood, rare meat, high-mercury fish, raw eggs, caffeine, and alcohol.
• Engage in pregnancy workouts such as walking, running, weight training, swimming, yoga, cycling, and exercises like squats, pelvic tilts, bent-over dumbbell rows, standing side bends, and dumbbell curls.

Once the baby is born, it’s also important to take the best postnatal vitamins, including iron, calcium, vitamin D, choline, and DHA, and make sure to provide your children with a healthy diet as well.