Children fed organic foods and raised in low-pollution environments develop better cognitive systems from as early as the prenatal stage. A scientific study conducted in six countries (France, Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Spain and Great Britain, in the larger European project Human Early-Life Exposome) came to these conclusions. (1)
The Human Early-Life Exposome Project
Researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) have introduced a holistic approach, called exposome, to assess all forms of exposure to harmful substances ‘fromcradleto grave’ (‘cradle to grave’). (2)
Unlike the studies traditional epidemiology, which focuses primarily on single forms of exposure (e.g., environmental, dietary, occupational), here for the first time was a cumulative analysis of the correlations between 87 prenatal and 122 childhood exposures and the cognitive function of 1,298 children from six birth cohorts in different countries, in relation to which relevant mother-child pair data are available.
The socio-environmental legacy
The contaminants evaluated cover all life circumstances, starting from the embryonic stage. Pregnant women’s lifestyle was analyzed using questionnaires administered to mothers and data collected in the cohorts on alcohol and tobacco use, diet, chemical exposure, etc.
Instead, the socio-environmental condition of the child’s early years was reconstructed through the examination of a number of variables. Air quality and availability of green areas near homes and schools, crowding in the home, indoor pollution, noise, household economic conditions, sleep quality, exercise and diet.
The role of diet
Nutrition exerts a key role on levels of well-being. The damage to health caused by ultra-processed foods and the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are now well known. The Catalan study-and the larger research project of which it is a part-also highlights the benefits to children’s cognitive development brought by a diet based on organic foods.
The chemical offenses on the human organism
To measure chemical exposures, the researchers collected serum, plasma, whole blood and urine samples from the children and retrieved those measured at the time on the mothers (including from the umbilical cord).
The many chemicals measured included organochlorines (PCBs and organochlorine pesticides), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorinated alkylated substances(PFASs), metals, phthalate metabolites, phenols, organophosphate pesticides and cotinine.
Tests
Evaluation of global exposure outcomes included digital completion of a questionnaire by the mothers, as well as cognitive tests and clinical examinations for the children.
Neuropsychological tests assessed three cognitive abilities:
– fluid intelligence indicates the ability to think logically and solve problems in new contexts, regardless of acquired knowledge,
– the level of attention and concentration, also measured, for example, in response speeds during tests,
– working memory, that is, short-term memory, such as that required to compose the backpack for school with everything needed.
Three faculties that express children’s cognitive potential.
Exposome, the conclusions
‘ Children‘s organic food intake was associated with higher fluid intelligence and working memory scores, while ‘fast food’ consumption and household crowding were associated with lower fluid intelligence scores,‘ the researchers conclude.
Parental behavior and environmental pollution make another decisive contribution. Children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), for example, showed lower fluid intelligence and lower working memory scores.
Intelligence, environment and nutrition education
The function played by an organic diet, residence in unpolluted areas and uncrowded homes reveal that, in the cognitive development of children, the economic well-being and education of parents plays a decisive role.
Where social policies do not reach, nutrition can still affect development and health from children. And it is therefore essential, even for this purpose, to work seriously on nutrition education. Starting with elementary school.
Elena Bosani
Notes
(1) Jordi Julvez et al. Early life multiple exposures and child cognitive function: A multi-centric birth cohort study in six European countries. Environmental Pollution Volume 284, September 1, 2021, 117404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117404
(2) The exposome is a concept first proposed by Christopher Wild, director of IARC in Lyon, in an article in CEBP in 2005, “Complementing the Genome with an Exposome: the Outstanding Challenge of Environmental Exposure Measurement in Molecular Epidemiology.” But see also the article by S. Rappaport. Exposome-adopted in the Human Early-Life Exposome project-is the set of a subject’s exposures over a lifetime, from the womb to the grave, so to speak. In it therefore is included the whole history of personal interactions with the environment, Not only therefore the chemical and physical agents in the air and water, but also everything in the lifestyle (diet, alcohol, exercise, smoking, stress etc..) leaves its molecular signature in the body.
Lawyer in Milan and Frankfurt am Main. An expert in family, juvenile and criminal law, she is now enrolled in a university master's programme in food law
