Researcher Eva Morales receives the SEE award for the best article of the year

The Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE) has awarded the article 'Circulating25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in pregnancy and infant neuropsychological development' of CREAL researcher, Eva Morales. This study, published in the journal Pediatrics, finds that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may hinder brain development in infants, affecting their mental behavior and motor skills.

To reach this conclusion, researchers from the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), a research center of the ISGlobal Alliance, measured the level of vitamin D in the blood of nearly 2,000 women in their first and second trimester of pregnancy and evaluated skills baby around 14 months old.

The researchers found that children of mothers with deficient levels of vitamin D scored lower than those whose mothers had adequate levels of the vitamin. "In general, lower scores on tests could lead to lower IQs in children," said Dr. Morales.

In fact, according to this study which is part of the INMA project, differences of between four and five points in this type of neuropsychological tests could reduce the number of children with above average intelligence (IQ above 110 points) in more than 50%.

Morales's new challenge is "now that INMA children have reached the age 4-5 years a question to which we would like to answer is whether vitamin D deficiency during the early stages of brain development increases the risk of symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children".