Research paper
Effects of maternal docosahexaenoic acid intake on visual function and neurodevelopment in breastfed term infants.
Study answer
What this study found
Maternal DHA supplementation increased infant DHA status during supplementation and showed one later neurodevelopmental benefit, but it did not improve visual function or other early developmental measures. In the DHA arm, transient VEP latency was 124.8 ± 11.7 ms at 4 months and 115.1 ± 8.1 ms at 8 months, with VEP amplitudes of 28.9 ± 12.1 V and 24.3 ± 8.9 V; control amplitudes were significantly higher (P = 0.03). No clear visual advantage was seen, and 12-month Gesell DQ scores were not meaningfully better. At 30 months, Bayley MDI was 107.8 ± 12.2 and Bayley PDI was 116.8 ± 15.2; PDI…
- Study & population
- Controlled intervention study in healthy women aged 18 to 40 years who planned to breastfeed exclusively for about 4 months after delivery and their term infants.
- Intervention
- Mothers in the active arm took 1 oral capsule daily providing 200 mg/day DHA as high-DHA algal triacylglycerol (DHASCO) for 4 months postpartum.
- Key limitation
- Benefits were inconsistent across outcomes, with no improvement in visual function and only one later neurodevelopmental endpoint favoring DHA.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
BACKGROUND Normal brain and visual development is thought to require exogenous docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) intake, but the amount needed is debatable. Because the supplementation of breastfeeding mothers with DHA increases the DHA content of …