The effect of iron supplementation in pregnancy on child cognitive development

在胎儿时期，大脑发育非常迅速，动物研究表明，母亲在怀孕期间铁营养不足会导致后代出现永久性的结构和发育问题。虽然这还没有在人类婴儿中进行检验，但新的研究表明，怀孕期间母亲的铁储备是婴儿出生后第一年铁储备的重要决定因素。铁营养影响后期发育的关键时期可能是在胎儿时期（怀孕期间）。我们有机会通过评估儿童的认知能力来测试胎儿期的铁营养是否会影响儿童的发育，这些儿童在我们早期的孕期铁补充研究中都有参与。我们的目的是评估4岁时的儿童，以确定孕期铁营养是否能预测发育。这可能会改变我们给孕妇的饮食建议，以确保她们给孩子最好的生活开端。

During fetal life the brain grows very rapidly and animal studies have shown that inadequate iron nutrition of mothers during pregnancy can result in permanent structural and developmental problems in the offspring. Although this has not been examined in human infants, new studies suggest that the iron stores of the mother in pregnancy are an important determinant of the baby's iron stores during the first year of life. It may be that the critical period where iron nutrition influences later development is in fetal life (during pregnancy). We have the opportunity to test whether iron nutrition in fetal life influences childhood development by assessing the cognitive abilities of children who were in our earlier study of iron supplementation in pregnancy. Our aim is to assess the children at 4 years to determine if iron nutrition in pregnancy predicts development. This may change the dietary advice we give pregnant women to ensure they give their babies the best start in life.