Clinical overview of effects of dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during the perinatal period.

ABSTRACT: The current report provides a brief background introducing 30 years of research on long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) and infant development, but focuses mainly on challenges for future studies. Infants fed formulas containing only vegetable fats were found to have lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) status than infants fed human milk. Studies soon focused on efforts to improve LC-PUFA status and evaluate functions suggested by early primate studies of DHA deficiency. Despite evidence for the importance of these fatty acids for development, particularly DHA, several recent meta-analyses conclude dietary supplementation does not enhance development. Future studies should employ (1) more finely grained measures of brain development as oppose

SUBMITTER: Scholtz SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4188474 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature