Nutrition and Mental Performance
| Autor: | Mervyn Susser, Gerhart Saenger, Zena Stein, Francis Marolla |
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| Rok vydání: | 1972 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Science. 178:708-713 |
| ISSN: | 1095-9203 0036-8075 |
| DOI: | 10.1126/science.178.4062.708 |
| Popis: | The relationship between material starvation during pregnancy and the mental status of the offspring in adult life is examined using as the touchstone the famine in Holland in the winter of 1944-1945. 7 famine-stricken cities in Western Holland were compared with 11 control Dutch cities that were not affected. A retrospective cohort study was made of 125000 males born between January 1 1944-December 31 1946 who were inducted into the army when they were about 19 years old. It is inferred that 20000 were exposed to the famine through maternal starvation. The men were divided into 9 cohorts by month of conception and month of birth. The dependent variables used are 1) severe mental retardation; 2) mild mental retardation; and 3) intelligent quotient. 2 postulated moderator variables are 1) fetal age of cohort at time of exposure; and 2) birth weight. 2 confounding variables--fertility and social class--have been controlled in the analysis. Despite several reservations which are discussed it was concluded that 1) starvation during pregnancy had no detectable effects on the adult mental performance of surviving male offspring; 2) mental performance in surviving adult males from a total population had no clear association w ith changing levels of mean birth weight; and 3) the association of social class with mental performance was strong. However 2 alternative hypotheses are presented to explain the absence of detectable effects from the famine: 1) survivors might have been selected from fetuses unimpaired by maternal starvation while those impaired suffered early death; and 2) postnatal learning might have compensated for neurological impairment. The results seem positive in 2 respects. They point to a high order of protection to the fetus in utero or to great resiliency or both. And they affirm the association between social environment and mental performance. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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