Nutrient trajectories during infancy and their associations with childhood neurodevelopment

Purpose: To examine the associations between infants’ dietary nutrient trajectories and subsequent neurodevelopment during childhood in the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes study. Methods: One-day food records were collected at ages 6, 9 and 12 months, whilst Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-2 were conducted at ages 24 and 54 months respectively. Nutrient trajectories were constructed using multi-level mixed modelling and associations with neurodevelopment (24 months: n = 484; 54 months: n = 444) were examined using adjusted multivariable linear regression. Results: At age 24 months, higher protein intake (at 6 months) and increasing rate of intake (from 6 to 12 months) were associated with higher fine motor score [β = 0.17 SD (95% CI 0.03, 0.31) and 0.62 SD (0.10, 1.14) respectively]. Higher fat intake was associated with higher receptive language score [0.04 SD (0.003, 0.07)], but increasing rate of intake was associated with lower expressive language [− 0.20 SD (− 0.39, − 0.01)] and fine motor [− 0.29 SD (− 0.48, − 0.10)] scores. Higher carbohydrate intake was associated with lower gross motor score [− 0.07 SD (− 0.14, − 0.005)], but increasing rate of intake was associated with higher receptive language [0.44 SD (0.08, 0.81)] and fine motor [0.56 SD (0.18, 0.93)] scores. Increasing rate of dietary fibre intake was associated with higher fine motor scores [0.63 SD (0.16, 1.10)]. No significant associations were observed with neurodevelopment at 54 months. Conclusion: Our findings provide greater understanding of how nutrition over time could have varying effects on child neurodevelopment.