Nutrition, Cognition and Learning: The Role of White Matter Development and Connectivity

While substantial research has examined the role of infant nutrition in early brain and cognitive development, the links between later childhood nutrition, brain development, and cognitive and academic skills remain less explored. In this work, we investigated for the first time the direct and indirect associations between nutrition intake, white matter microstructure and structural connectivity, and cognitive and academic outcomes. Using longitudinal data from typically developing children aged 2 to 14 years, we combined neuroimaging, dietary, and cognitive measures to test direct associations between nutrition and brain structure and connectivity, as well as cognitive and learning outcomes, and to assess whether brain development mediated these relationships. We found that specific nutrients, including DHA, sphingomyelin, iron, niacin, choline, and palmitoleic acid (omega-7), were associated with improved brain structure and connectivity, as well as better cognitive and learning outcomes. We also found that brain development partly mediated the association between childhood nutrition and learning outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show such a pathway in school-age children. These results add to the growing literature demonstrating the ongoing importance of nutrition beyond infancy in supporting childhood brain and cognitive development.