1. Write a brief overall summary of your findings.
Based on my findings, undernutrition of the mother, especially during the third trimester, has a negative impact on a childs cognitive, behavioral, and physical development. This does not only apply to a mothers undernutrition, but also maternal obesity.
2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8538181/ - PubMed Central - National Library of Medicine.
In this source, I learned that not only can undernutrition have a negative impact on a child's cognitive, behavioral, and physical development, but so does maternal obesity. Undernutrition during pregnancy has been linked to brain defects, delays in development, and neuropsychiatric disorders, and can disrupt the developmental process in the brain.
https://news.ohsu.edu/2025/03/26/ohsu-study-confirms-link-between-maternal-diet-risk-to-infant-behavioral-health - OHSU
After reading this source, I learned that the third trimester of pregnancy is a sensitive period for dietary needs. The study explained that there is a significant link between maternal diet and a child's behavior and or mental health.
4. What potential biases or interests might each of your sources have?
The first source may be interested in proving that diet does have an effect on infants because of its references to older studies. Since these past studies have claimed this to be true, the source could have been working to further prove these studies' claims.
For the second source, because they are writing about their own study, they may be biased in what information they include. This could make it so they don’t include limitations or uncertainties of the study, or leave some information out.
5. What evidence supports the claim you are fact-checking?
The majority of the evidence from both of my primary sources supports the claim, Maternal diet does influence children’s neurodevelopment.
6. What evidence undermines the claim you are fact-checking?
The effects on neurodevelopment that they note could be due to other factors, that were not included in the studies, not just maternal diet.
7. What happened when you tried contacting the person or group who made the original claim? (Always try to contact them—it’s okay if you don’t get a reply. For example, if the claim is that the president said something, try reaching out to the administration. If it was a Bluesky user, message that user on Bluesky.)
I was not responded to when I tried contacting the person/group who made the original claim.
