Thiamine supplementation holds neurocognitive benefits for breastfed infants during the first year of life

Jeffrey R. Measelle, Dare A. Baldwin, Jelisa Gallant, Kathleen Chan, Tim J. Green, Frank T. Wieringa, Mam Borath, Sophonneary Prak, Daniela Hampel, Setareh Shahab-Ferdows, Lindsay H. Allen, Hou Kroeun, Kyly C. Whitfield

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
44 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Women reliant on mostly rice-based diets can have inadequate thiamine intake, placing breastfed infants at risk of thiamine deficiency and, in turn, physical and cognitive impairments. We investigated the impact of maternal thiamine supplementation doses on infants' cognitive, motor, and language development across the first year. In this double-blind, four-parallel-arm, randomized controlled trial, healthy mothers of exclusively breastfed newborn infants were recruited in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. At 2 weeks postnatal, women (n = 335) were randomized to one of four treatment groups to consume one capsule/day with varying amounts of thiamine for 22 weeks: 0, 1.2, 2.4, and 10 mg. At 2, 12, 24, and 52 weeks of age, infants were assessed with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and the Caregiver Reported Early Development Instrument (CREDI). Multiple regression and mixed effects modeling suggest that by 6 months of age, the highest maternal thiamine dose (10 mg/day) held significant benefits for infants' language development, but generally not for motor or visual reception development. Despite having achieved standardized scores on the MSEL that approximated U.S. norms by 6 months, infants showed a significant drop relative to these norms in both language domains following trial completion, indicating that nutritional interventions beyond 6 months may be necessary.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)116-132
Number of pages17
JournalAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Volume1498
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • breastfeeding
  • neurocognitive benefits
  • thiamine supplementation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Thiamine supplementation holds neurocognitive benefits for breastfed infants during the first year of life'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this