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A nutritional supplement taken during pregnancy may support fetal brain development and improve children's cognitive performance and social behavior, according to new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz.

The randomized clinical trial, published this week in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that children whose mothers took phosphatidylcholine, a form of choline found naturally in foods, had fewer social withdrawal problems and scored higher on cognitive tests than children whose mothers received a placebo.

"This is the largest randomized clinical trial of prenatal choline supplementation ever conducted," said the study's senior author Robert Freedman, M.D., professor of psychiatry at CU Anschutz. "What this study showed that we have not observed before was an increase in the overall IQ of about eight points when measured at age 4. That put significantly more children into the higher IQ percentile on the test we used."

The study, Freedman said, showed that children of mothers who received phosphatidylcholine supplements had fewer problems with language development and social skills, compared with children of women who had received placebos. All women in the study were encouraged to take standard prenatal vitamins and eat a diet that contained eggs, meat and other natural sources of phosphatidylcholine.

"This study provides additional evidence that choline supplements during pregnancy can have lasting effects on children's brain development," said Freedman.

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