Background: The Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) Longitudinal Study provides a unique opportunity to examine the role of nutrition in cognitive functioning over time, controlling for other sociocultural factors. Objective: This article describes results of analyses carried out in the INCAP Longitudinal Study on relationships between early childhood nutritional status and supplementation with concurrent and subsequent cognitive development in childhood and adolescence/young adulthood. Methods: Articles were chosen for review that addressed this topic from the original and 1988 follow-up studies; 41 articles were reviewed and key results summarized for relationships between early nutrition and cognition in infancy, early childhood, and adolescence/young adulthood. Results: Overall, results suggest strong relationships between indicators of a child’s early nutritional status and motor and cognitive development in infancy and through the preschool years, continuing into adolescence/young adulthood, particularly for males. Nutritional supplementation during gestation through 2 years of age was associated with improvements in motor development and small, but consistent improvements in cognitive development during infancy and preschool years, with similar results of greater magnitude found with cognitive functioning in adolescence and young adulthood. Findings remain strong after controlling for various sociocultural factors (eg, socioeconomic status [SES]) and schooling. Among adolescents, significant interactions were found with SES and years of school attained; differences in performance favored Atole over Fresco children, with greatest differences for participants of low SES and those with higher levels of schooling. Conclusions: Results support the need for programs to address unmet nutritional requirements among at-risk mothers and children and potential beneficial effects for human cognitive development.

中文翻译：

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儿童和青春期的儿童早期营养和认知功能

背景：中美洲和巴拿马营养研究所 (INCAP) 纵向研究提供了一个独特的机会来检查营养在认知功能中的作用随时间推移，控制其他社会文化因素。目标：本文描述了 INCAP 纵向研究中关于儿童早期营养状况与补充与儿童和青春期/青年期同时和随后的认知发展之间关系的分析结果。方法：从原始研究和 1988 年的后续研究中选择讨论该主题的文章进行审查；回顾了 41 篇文章，并总结了早期营养与婴儿期、幼儿期和青春期/青年期认知之间关系的主要结果。结果：总体而言，结果表明，儿童早期营养状况的指标与婴儿期和整个学龄前的运动和认知发展之间存在密切关系，持续到青春期/青年期，尤其是男性。妊娠至 2 岁期间的营养补充与运动发育的改善以及婴儿期和学龄前认知发育的小幅但持续的改善有关，在青春期和青年期的认知功能中也发现了类似的结果。在控制了各种社会文化因素（例如，社会经济地位 [SES]）和学校教育后，研究结果仍然强劲。在青少年中，发现与社会经济地位和受教育年限之间存在显着的相互作用；表现上的差异有利于 Atole 而非 Fresco 儿童，SES 较低的参与者和受教育程度较高的参与者之间的差异最大。结论：结果支持需要制定计划来解决高危母亲和儿童未满足的营养需求以及对人类认知发展的潜在有益影响。