How does early life diet affect a child's mental health and personality?

 In a child's life, the period from conception until two years old is crucial for growth and development. In addition to the development of vital organs and regulatory systems, this phase also determines a child's personality, mental health, and socio-emotional growth. Hence, optimal nourishment must be provided during pregnancy and the first years of a child's life.

Background

The key factors influencing the early phase of life are nutrition and nurture. Initially, nutrition is provided through formula or breastmilk and later via nutritious foods, which impacts a child's physiological development. Iron, iodine, and long-chain fatty acids are identified to be essential for normal brain development. Therefore, deficiency of these components in the aforementioned critical phase may lead to irreversible harm to cognitive and neural motor development. 

Feeding a child is considered to be an important interactive event that has been associated with a child's socio-emotional development. Typically, a child mimics the caregiver and family and acquires skills that are important for their entire life.

Similar to any non-communicable disease, a child may develop depression and anxiety at an early age. Often these mental health conditions are found in children as young as 5 to 9 years of age. It has been observed that early-life nutritional deficiencies make a child susceptible to mental health conditions. Maternal diet has also been linked with mental health conditions (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder- ADHD) and neurodevelopment of the offspring. 

Typically, personal traits are presented as five different traits that include conscientiousness, imagination, extraversion, neuroticism, and benevolence. These character traits are referred to as the big five personality traits. Few studies have analyzed the association between early childhood diet and later mental health status.

A recent Nutrients study investigated the relationship between maternal and child diet and a child's personality traits and mental health, i.e., depression and anxiety.

Source: News-Medical