By Sheela Sinharoy
ASN’s Scientific Sessions & Annual Meeting began on Saturday morning with a minisymposium on Nutrition and Cognitive and Neurological Outcomes. Researchers presented studies looking at a range of outcomes across the life course, from infants to the elderly.
Focusing on infants and preschool aged children, Sylvia Fernandez-Rao of the National Institute of Nutrition in India shared results from a randomized trial in India, in which participants received one of four interventions: micronutrient powders (MNPs), an early learning intervention, a combination of MNP + early learning, or neither. The results showed small improvements in some categories of development from both the MNP and early learning intervention but no evidence of additive effects.
Karim Bougma of McGill University presented results of a randomized trial of salt iodization in Ethiopia. The study enrolled children up to age five and distributed iodized salt in intervention communities. They found a significant difference between intervention and control areas in several measures of child development and also in maternal depression symptoms. This was true despite a significant increase in consumption of iodized salt in control areas as well as variable quality of salt iodization.
Moving on to older children, Beth Prado of UC-Davis presented results from a study that re-enrolled children ages 9-12 years whose mothers had received multiple micronutrient (MMN) supplementation while pregnant. They found that maternal MMN supplementation had small but significant positive effects on cognitive domains that were still measurable up to 12 years later. They additionally found that the cognitive benefits of MMN varied based on the mother’s nutritional status.
Looking at young adults, Susan Emmett of Johns Hopkins University spoke about nutrition and hearing loss. She used data from the Nepal Nutrition Intervention Project, a randomized trial of preschool vitamin A supplementation that began in 1989. The project followed children and collected data every four months, including about any ear discharge in the previous week. Among children who had at least one episode of ear discharge, vitamin A supplementation was associated with a 42% risk reduction of young adult hearing loss.
Usha Ramakrishnan of Emory University also presented data on adults, specifically mothers. She described a randomized trial in Viet Nam, in which women received weekly pre-conceptional supplements of folic acid, iron-folic acid, or multiple micronutrients. The outcome of interest was maternal depression, but researchers found very few symptoms of postpartum depression, and there was no difference between treatment groups.
Finally, Alex Brito of UC-Davis spoke about a randomized trial of vitamin B12 in Chile, which measured neurophysiological outcomes among adults ages 70-79 years. The researchers found significant improvements in nerve conduction velocity with B12 intake but no improvements in other neurophysiological outcomes.
The minisymposium reflected just some of the diversity of interventions and outcomes within the very broad topic of nutrition and cognitive and neurological outcomes. It made clear that, as with many topics at EB 2015, this area is rich with future research opportunities, and there is still much to learn.
