Maternal supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid during pregnancy does not affect early visual development in the infant: a randomized controlled trial.

Study answer

What this study found

Maternal DHA supplementation during the second half of pregnancy did not improve early infant visual development. Primary VEP acuity at 4 months was 8.37 ± 2.11 cycles per degree in the DHA group (n = 89) versus 8.55 ± 1.86 cycles per degree in controls (n = 93; P = 0.55), and no difference was reported for VEP latency. Exploratory analyses also showed no benefit among infants fed only breast milk (8.8 ± 2.0 vs 8.7 ± 2.4 cycles per degree; P = 0.9), after adjustment for postnatal DHA exposure (8.6 ± 2.1 vs 8.7 ± 2.1 cycles per degree; P = 0.63), or among infants fed formula without DHA (7.7…

Study & population

Multicenter, double-blind randomized controlled trial in healthy singleton pregnancies in Australia, with enrollment at 18-21 weeks' gestation and no fetal abnormalities.

Intervention

Pregnant participants received DHA-rich fish oil capsules (Incromega 500TG) from 18-21 weeks' gestation until delivery: three 0.5-g capsules daily, providing 800 mg DHA/day and 100 mg EPA/day.

Key limitation

Follow-up was short, limited to infant testing at 4 months, so longer-term visual effects were not assessed.

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Original abstract