Maternal protein intake in early pregnancy and child development at age 3 years

Background The current study aimed to assess the association between low maternal protein intake during pregnancy and child developmental delay at age 3 years. Methods This research used data obtained from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. In total, we analyzed 77,237 mother–child pairs. Dietary intake was assessed using the Food Frequency Questionnaire. Developmental outcomes at age 3 years were evaluated with the Japanese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between maternal protein intake during pregnancy and child development delays at age 3 years. Results Based on the protein-to-total energy intake ratio during early pregnancy, the participants were categorized into three groups: 2 standard deviation below the mean), the severely low protein (SLP) group; 9.39–