Nutrimenthe

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Concept and Objectives

The overall objectives of Nutrimenthe are to:

1. Estimate the importance of nutrition for neurodevelopment/mental performance in contemporary European populations by examining the associations between early nutrition and later outcomes in large well-characterised population-based prospective studies with detailed measures of diet in pregnancy and the first years of life. These observational studies will allow the identification of dietary exposures.
2. Quantify the effects of prenatal maternal diet on foetal early programming and subsequently on later cognitive development, mental and behavioural disorders by measuring different markers in the follow-up of well-conducted randomised controlled trials of specific nutrition interventions in pregnancy and infancy. The endpoints will have real and defined predictive value for adult public health.
3. Specify and understand the role and mechanisms of specific nutrients effects (omega-3 fatty acids, proteins, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate, iron and zinc) on early programming and different genetic polymorphisms (in genes encoding fatty acid and 5-methyl –tetra-hydrofolate metabolism), and how the nutrients interactions within the maternal, infant and childhood diet influence the child’s neurodevelopment, mental performance and behaviour disorders, using functional genomic techniques to further explore the basis of nutrition in mental performance programming in clinically relevant model systems and in the prospective cohort studies (all of which have collected and stored biological samples).
4. Explore the quantitative requirements and role of some nutrients (to be named) in improving mental performance in children and their subsequent outcomes.
5. Develop an appropriate standard neuropsychological battery to improve a comparable methodology for cognitive assessment in EU children.
6. Explore how increasing knowledge about the links between diet and mental development, influence consumer behaviour and impacts upon public health.
7. Quantify on a European scale, the economic impact of improving mental function through scientific nutrients.
8. Establish a multi-disciplinary training programme and disseminate the results to ensure that the project promotes best practice in dietary advice to pregnant women and parents with newborn babies, infants and children in Europe, optimising as far as possible future brain health, mental performance, behaviour and well-being.