Associations of dietary patterns with brain morphology in children: Results from a prospective population-based study

Abstract Dietary patterns in childhood have been associated with child neurodevelopment and cognitive performance, while the underlying neurobiological pathway is unclear. We aimed to examine associations of dietary patterns in infancy and mid-childhood with pre-adolescent brain morphology. We included 1888 and 2326 children with dietary data at age one or eight years, respectively, and structural neuroimaging at age 10 years in the Generation R Study. Measures of brain morphology were obtained using magnetic resonance imaging. Dietary intake was assessed using food-frequency questionnaires, from which we calculated diet quality scores based on dietary guidelines and from which derived dietary patterns using principal component analyses. Associations were examined using regression models adjusted for potential confounding and controlled for multiple testing. At age one year, children with higher adherence to dietary patterns labeled as ‘Snack, processed foods and sugar’ had smaller cerebral white matter volume (B = -4.30, 95%CI -6.92, -1.68). At age eight years, higher adherence to diet patterns labeled as ‘Whole grains, soft fats and dairy’ was associated with a larger total brain (B = 8.93, 95%CI 4.54, 13.32), and larger cerebral gray matter volumes (B = 5.17, 95%CI 2.86, 7.48). Children with higher diet quality and better adherence to a ‘Whole grains, soft fats and dairy’ dietary pattern at age eight years showed greater brain gyrification and larger surface area, clustered primarily in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In conclusion, dietary patterns in early- and mid-childhood are associated with differences in brain morphology. These findings may explain part of the previously reported relation between dietary patterns and neurodevelopment in children.