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Eating meat during pregnancy may protect against substance abuse in children

Lower meat consumption during pregnancy may increase risk for substance abuse among offspring, according to recent findings.

“Vegetarian dietary patterns are associated with improved health outcomes among adults and, in addition, have strong ethical imperatives including promotion of sustainability, food security and reducing industrialized production of animals. However, avoidance of relatively nutrient-dense meats can decrease intakes of cobalamin, iron, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and zinc, particularly in young women of childbearing age,” Joseph R. Hibbeln, MD, of the Section on Nutritional Neurosciences, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and colleagues wrote. “Profound neurodevelopmental abnormalities due to severe cobalamin deficiencies were first identified among infants from Indian vegan and vegetarian mothers. Among Western populations, infants of cobalamin deficient mothers have poor brain growth, developmental regression, irritability, thrive poorly and demonstrate residual deficits in cognitive and social development.”

To determine potential effects of maternal diets during pregnancy on substance use in adolescent offspring, researchers analyzed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children for pregnant women and their children. Adverse alcohol, cannabis and tobacco use in offspring was measured at age 15 years.

After adjustment, children whose mothers never consumed meat had higher risk for alcohol use (OR = 1.75; 95% CI = 1.23-2.56), tobacco use (OR = 1.85; 95% CI, 1.28-2.63) and cannabis use (OR = 2.7; 95% CI, 1.89-4), compared with those whose mothers consumed meat daily.

Researchers evaluated potential causality using stratification for maternal allelic variants that influence biological activity of cobalamin and iron.

Lower meat consumption increased risk for adverse substance use in children among mothers with optimally functional variants (rs1801198) of the transcobalamin 2 gene.

Functional maternal variants in iron metabolism were not associated with adverse substance use.

These findings suggest low meat consumption during the prenatal period may be a modifiable risk factor for adolescent substance use, according to researchers.

“In identifying vitamin B12 insufficiencies as highly likely to have a contributing role to our findings, greater meat consumption need not be advised to modify this risk,” they wrote. “For example, fortification of foods with vegetarian sources of cobalamin and more widespread use of supplements may be low cost and readily feasible interventions.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.