SynthesisNutrients2025
Choline During Pregnancy and Child Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Observational Studies.
Synthesis in Nutrients, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Choline status and related health outcomes in humans: A scoping review.Nutrition and health · 2026Article
- Maternal and perinatal risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis.World journal of pediatric surgery · 2026Review
- Association between dietary choline intake and odds of preeclampsia: a case-control study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMost pregnant women have choline intakes below recommendations. Animal studies suggest that choline supplementation during pregnancy improves cognitive outcomes in the offspring. This review aims to determine whether higher choline levels during pregnancy are associated with improved child brain development.
methodsWe systematically reviewed the evidence for the role of choline in pregnancy for human neurodevelopment in clinical trials and observational studies.
resultsWe identified four randomized trials of choline supplementation in pregnancy and five observational studies of prenatal choline. Neurodevelopmental assessments of these studies were reported across 20 eligible publications. Within both the trials and observational studies, most neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed did not support the hypothesis that higher prenatal choline benefits neurodevelopment. Among identified clinical trials, there were some instances where children whose mothers received choline supplementation had a better score on a neurodevelopmental measure. Still, each trial included multiple outcomes, and most were null. Observational studies were mixed as to whether an association between prenatal choline and an aspect of child neurodevelopment was identified. Critical limitations were present across clinical trials and observational studies, preventing confidence in the results and evidence base.
conclusionsCurrent evidence is insufficient to support or refute the hypothesis that increasing choline intake in pregnancy improves the neurodevelopmental outcomes of the child.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.