B1205 - The role of maternal antenatal diet and early childhood diet in the aetiology of ADHD DCD and Dyslexia - 07/07/2011

B number: 
B1205
Principal applicant name: 
Dr Raghu Lingam (University of Bristol, UK)
Co-applicants: 
Dr Pauline Emmett (University of Bristol, UK), Prof Jean Golding (University of Bristol, UK)
Title of project: 
The role of maternal antenatal diet and early childhood diet in the aetiology of ADHD, DCD and Dyslexia.
Proposal summary: 

Investigate the role of antenatal dietary factors and blood levels of fatty acids in relation to the development of ADHD, DCD and dyslexia using data from ALSPAC. In addition we will investigate the role of these dietary factors on the continuous developmental traits of inattention and hyperactivity, motor coordination and reading skills. Measures of diet and fatty acids from ALSPAC used in this analysis will be: 1.Dietary data collected by food frequency questionnaire at 32 weeks pregnancy. 2. Maternal prenatal red blood cell fatty acids. 3. Duration of breast feeding assessed by maternally completed questionnaire at 6 months. 4. Child blood fatty acid levels available at birth (cord blood) and at 7 years. The final analysis will assess the role of fatty acids in the aetiology of children with complex overlapping difficulties in attention, poor motor coordination, poor reading skills, speech and language and social communication difficulties. The study will involve A.) a comprehensive literature review of all previous research looking at the role of fatty acids in the aetiology of ADHD, DCD and dyslexia B) Multivariate linear regression models will be used to analyse each of the dietary factors for the traits of attention, motor coordination and reading skills. C) Further analyses using multivariate logistic models will assess the role of these dietary factors in regard to (a) the extreme tail (10th centile) of each distribution, and (b) the diagnoses of ADHD, DCD and dyslexia.

Date proposal received: 
Thursday, 7 July, 2011
Date proposal approved: 
Thursday, 7 July, 2011
Keywords: 
ADHD, Development, Nutrition
Primary keyword: