DHA Improves Infant Brain, Eye Development

DHA Improves Infant Brain, Eye Development

HOUSTON--Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)supplementation by breastfeeding mothers improved brain and eye development intheir offspring, according to a study published in the American Journal ofClinical Nutrition (82, 1:125-132, 2005).

Breastfeeding women took daily doses of high-DHA algal oil (approximately200 mg/d DHA) or a vegetable oil control for four months following delivery.Researchers monitored the fatty acid pattern of maternal plasma phospholipid andmilk lipids four months postpartum, the fatty acid pattern of plasmaphospholipids and visual function in infants at four and eight months afterbirth, and the neurodevelopmental status of the offspring at 12 and 30 months ofage. At four months after birth, milk lipid and plasma phospholipid DHA levelsof infants in the DHA group and the control group were approximately 75 percentand 35 percent higher, respectively. However, neither the neurodevelopmentalindices of the infants at 12 months of age nor their visual function at four andeight months of age differed significantly between groups. The BayleyPsychomotor Development Index, but not the Mental Development Index, of thegroup supplemented with DHA was higher at 30 months of age.

The researchers concluded DHA supplementation by breastfeeding mothersresults in higher infant plasma phospholipid DHA levels during supplementationand a higher Bayley Psychomotor Development Index at 30 months of age butresults in no other advantages either at or before this age.