Can Your Diet Make Your Baby Smarter? 3 Nutrients That Might Help

We’re often asked, “which trimester is the most critical for my baby’s brain development?”.  In truth, all stages of pregnancy are important to fetal brain health and development.

The brain is the most intricate organ that is developed in the womb and full brain maturity is not actually reached until age 25. While genetics play a role in your baby’s future cognitive functioning, environmental factors also contribute to intelligence, neurodevelopment, psychomotor skills, and mental health. The good news is, you can influence some of those environmental factors through your prenatal and maternal diet.

So, can your diet make your baby smarter?

We know that as a mother, you want to give your child the healthiest and happiest start to life, and that includes a healthy brain. The good news is you have a really powerful tool at your disposal, which can positively impact your little one’s cognitive functioning before you even become pregnant: your diet.

In a questionnaire of over 12,000 people during pregnancy, women were split into 3 categories based on primary foods in diets: “fruit and vegetables,” “meat and potatoes,” and “white bread and coffee.” When compared with mothers in the other groups, women who consumed more fruits and vegetables had babies with an average higher IQ. 

It’s important to remember that there are so many factors that contribute to intelligence. But your baby’s brain health (and our own brain health) is supported by key nutrients that we get in our diet. A healthy, balanced diet is always the key to optimal functioning, but today, we want to look at the top nutrients that support brain development in the womb and while breastfeeding.

3 nutrients that support your baby’s brain development

Choline

Choline is one of those micronutrients that’s not talked about enough, but it’s actually really critical for baby’s brain development and, like folic acid, helps prevent brain and spinal developmental issues.

When it comes to your baby’s cognitive development, choline can be a gamechanger. There’s a lot of important brain development that happens in the first trimester of pregnancy and a recent study out of Cornell University has suggested that women who eat more foods rich in choline during pregnancy could actually be boosting baby’s brain development and cognitive function. Not only that, other studies have found that choline plays an important role in the healthy functioning of the placenta as well. 

Rapid growth of the brain really kicks off in the third trimester and continues until about age 5, and choline remains important throughout this period of child development. Choline is responsible for making cellular membranes, insulating nerve fibers and producing new nerve cells. All of these factors contribute to a healthy brain, and studies show that adequate choline levels during these critical years can also help boost cognitive function, and improve performance in long-term memory tasks later in life.

It’s important to know that choline is not typically present in prenatal vitamins, but you can make sure you get it in your diet through meat based sources of chicken, salmon, and lean pork chops, and plant-based sources of eggs, navy beans, broccoli, and green peas.

Find choline in the Baby2Body recipe: Eggs En Cocotte

Omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3’s are often referred to as brain food, as they are a necessary building block for brain development. They come by the moniker fairly, as these healthy fats make up 30% of  our gray matter, which is where we process information.

The best sources of Omega-3 are found in oily fish, such as salmon, sardines, light tuna, and herring. Plant-based Omega-3’s can be found in flax seeds, eggs, and walnuts. So what can they do for baby’s brain?

Well, Harvard Medical School studied 135 pairs of mothers and their babies and found that more fish consumed during the second trimester resulted in babies scoring higher on a mental-development test around 6 months old. In another study of 300 children, the ones who performed better at intelligence tests consumed a diet higher in seafood and vegetable sources of Omega 3 at an early age.

Pregnant mothers are recommended to follow guidelines of eating 2 servings of low-mercury fish per week during pregnancy in order to maintain a healthy Omega-3 intake. Low-mercury options like salmon light tuna, and mackerel, best as higher mercury exposure is associated with lower cognitive test scores in babies as well as other harmful side effects.

Find Omega-3’s in the Baby2Body recipe: Mega-Omega Smoothie

Iodine

Iodine often gets a bad rap as it’s associated with a higher salt diet, but it’s still an important micronutrient, especially when it comes to brain development! Healthy iodine intake is important during the 1st trimester, as low levels have been linked to neurodevelopmental issues and slightly lower IQs later in childhood.

A UK-based study published in the Lancet medical journal in 2013 reported that the offspring of women with deficient levels were more likely to score in the lowest quartile for verbal IQ, reading accuracy, and reading comprehension, which shows how essential it is that pregnant women include iodine in your diet.

Iodine can be found in many commercially available prenatal vitamins but levels do vary. Good food sources include all dairy products, eggs, potatoes with skin, seafood, fish, and turkey. It’s a good idea to avoid kelp or seaweed supplements because they may contain too much iodine.

Find iodine in the Baby2Body recipe: Not So Miso Soup

For recipes rich in the nutrients you (and baby) need most in pregnancy, be sure to download the Baby2Body app! We have dedicated meal plans for every week of pregnancy, built by our resident prenatal Nutritionist. Download the app today!

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