Daily Enteral DHA Supplementation Alleviates Deficiency in Premature Infants.

ABSTRACT: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential fatty acid (FA) important for health and neurodevelopment. Premature infants are at risk of DHA deficiency and circulating levels directly correlate with health outcomes. Most supplementation strategies have focused on increasing DHA content in mother's milk or infant formula. However, extremely premature infants may not reach full feedings for weeks and commercially available parenteral lipid emulsions do not contain preformed DHA, so blood levels decline rapidly after birth. Our objective was to develop a DHA supplementation strategy to overcome these barriers. This double-blind, randomized, controlled trial determined feasibility, tolerability and efficacy of daily enteral DHA supplementation (50 mg/day) in addition to standard nutrition for pr

SUBMITTER: Baack ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4818658 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature