Fatty acids and sleep in UK children: subjective and pilot objective sleep results from the DOLAB study--a randomized controlled trial.

ABSTRACT: Sleep problems in children are associated with poor health, behavioural and cognitive problems, as are deficiencies of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids such as docosahexaenoic acid. Theory and some evidence support a role for these fatty acids in sleep regulation, but this issue has received little formal investigation. We examined associations between blood fatty acid concentrations (from fingerstick blood samples) and subjective sleep (using an age-standardized parent questionnaire) in a large epidemiological sample of healthy children aged 7-9 years (n = 395) from mainstream UK schools. In a randomized controlled trial, we then explored whether 16-week supplementation (600 mg day(-1) ) with algal docosahexaenoic acid versus placebo might improve sleep in a subset of those children (n = 36

SUBMITTER: Montgomery P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4263155 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature