No abstract

www.clinicaltrials.gov , identifier: NCT01487889, title: Polyunsaturated fatty acids in child nutrition-a German multimodal optimisation study (PINGU).

Breastfeeding initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding in Germany need to be improved. Professional counselling and support, with a focus on mothers from lower social classes, appears necessary to increase current rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusiveness, but also to ensure a sufficient supply with DHA in pregnant and lactating women, particularly in women with low fish consumption.

To promote fish with complementary feeding, programs should focus on families whose mothers rarely eat fish. Nutritional campaigns to improve omega-3 knowledge-especially focusing on lower social classes-could be effective in increasing rapeseed oil consumption, although these programs should be combined with environmental improvements as it has been already started through the use of rapeseed oil in commercial baby jars.

Many formulas (FM) for infants are nowadays supplemented with LC-PUFA. Due to the susceptibility of LC-PUFA to peroxidation, a potential risk of oxidative stress must be considered. We analyzed the concentration of unsaturated fatty acids to calculate an estimated vitamin E need and the concentration of vitamin E as an important lipophilic antioxidant in LC-PUFA enriched (FM(+), n = 31) and not enriched (FM(-), n = 29) formulas as well as in breast milk (BM, n = 118). No differences were observed in the ratios of vitamin E content to estimated vitamin E need between FM(+) and FM(-). Ratios were consistently above the minimum value according to European law. FM showed similar or higher ratios than BM, except in a worst-case scenario where BM showed higher ratios than FM(+). Our results indicate adequate vitamin E content relative to unsaturated fatty acid content in present-day commercial formulas. Given that breast milk tends to contain higher ratios of vitamin E content to estimated vitamin E need than LC-PUFA enriched formulas (at least in a worst-case scenario), the potential effects of increasing vitamin E content in LC-PUFA enriched formulas should be explored.