Global early-life cohorts for nutrition-neurodevelopment research including over 100 datasets representing over one million children

Summary: The first 1,000 days of brain development are sensitive to nutrient availability, and large longitudinal early-life cohorts provide an opportunity to study early nutritional influences on neurodevelopment in generally healthy populations. We aimed to identify international pregnancy and birth cohorts with at least 1,000 children collecting early-life nutrition data, including maternal nutrition during pregnancy or lactation, breastfeeding, and solid-food feeding, along with later child neurodevelopmental outcomes. In total, 104 pregnancy and birth cohorts were identified, representing over 1.17 million children across 41 countries. Cohorts spanned six continents, with the largest participant representation from high- and upper middle-income settings. Maternal diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding status were the most frequently captured nutrition domains, while neurodevelopmental assessments varied across developmental periods, using over 200 assessment tools. These cohorts support future harmonized analyses of early nutrition and neurodevelopment, and further work will benefit from international collaboration, shared data standards, and pooled or federated infrastructures.