Pregnancy Nutrition Programme Linked to Greater Fetal Brain Growth

A nutrition programme developed for pregnant women in Ecuador has been associated with greater growth in a specific region of the developing fetal brain, according to research led by Washington University in St. Louis.

The trial, known as Mikhuna, involved 215 healthy pregnant women from two low-resource communities near Quito. Of these participants, 111 received the nutrition intervention, while 104 continued with standard prenatal care.

Beginning at around 12 weeks of pregnancy, women in the intervention group received weekly supplies of eggs, fish, fruits and vegetables. They also received guidance aimed at increasing dietary variety and reducing consumption of ultra-processed foods. The programme was designed around broad dietary patterns associated with human evolution but adapted to foods that were locally available in Ecuador.

By the end of the intervention, 74.5% of women receiving the programme met the study’s minimum measure for dietary diversity, compared with 55.8% in the control group. Participants in the intervention group reported eating about 14 different foods per day, compared with nine among those receiving standard care.

Researchers used portable ultrasound examinations at 21 and 35 weeks of pregnancy to monitor fetal brain development. They found that growth in the gangliothalamic ovoid, a deep brain structure involved in functions including movement, sensory processing and reasoning, was 0.15 centimetres greater in fetuses in the intervention group.

The researchers cautioned that the study cannot establish which individual foods or nutrients produced the observed effect. Other findings involving the corpus callosum and femur did not remain statistically significant after adjustments.

The team is now working with partners in Ecuador to explore how the findings could contribute to a broader pregnancy nutrition programme.

16-09-2026