Effect of Maternal Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation on Very Preterm Infant Growth: Secondary Outcome of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The aim of the study was to determine the effect of a maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation during lactation, compared with a placebo, on the neonatal growth profile of breastfed very preterm infants. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Preterm infants’ growth profile, growth velocity from birth to 36 weeks’ postmenstrual age (PMA), and growth at 36 weeks’ PMA were pre-specified secondary outcomes of a randomized placebo-controlled trial conducted in 16 Canadian neonatal intensive care units (2015–2018). Lactating mothers who delivered before 29 weeks’ gestation were given 1.2 g of DHA daily or a placebo within 72 h of delivery and up to 36 weeks’ PMA. Analyses were performed using a linear regression model with generalized estimating equations. <b><i>Results:</i></b> 461 mothers and their 528 infants (DHA, <i>N</i> = 273; placebo, <i>N</i> = 255) were included with mean gestational age of 26.5 weeks (standard deviation [SD] = 1.6); 275 (52.1%) were males; mean birth weight was 895 g (SD = 240). DHA interaction with sex was significant on weight profile (interaction <i>p</i> < 0.001), weight velocity (interaction <i>p</i> = 0.05), and weight at 36 weeks’ PMA (interaction <i>p</i> = 0.02). Females in the DHA group gained more weight compared to the placebo group (mean difference [MD], 52.6 g [95% confidence interval [CI]: 24.5–80.8], <i>p</i> < 0.001). Weight velocity was significantly higher in females of the DHA group (MD, 3.4 g/kg/day [95% CI: 0.6–6.2], <i>p</i> = 0.02). At 36 weeks’ PMA, the weight of males in the DHA group was significantly smaller (MD, −88.9 g [95% CI: −166.2 to −11.6], <i>p</i> = 0.02). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> DHA positively affected female infants’ neonatal weight profile and velocity and negatively affected male infants’ weight at 36 weeks’ PMA.

Cannabinoids accumulate in mouse breast milk and differentially regulate lipid composition and lipid signaling molecules involved in infant development

“…57 ) do show that ~17% of the findings have a significant sex difference and that this is primarily observed in the CBD alone group. This is an important consideration for future studies because the effectiveness of fatty acid supplementation to pre-term infants while breast feeding has been shown to be sex-dependent, with females exhibiting better treatment outcomes [ 45 ], and use of CBD during pregnancy is on the rise Our analysis of sex differences in lipids showed that females in the CBD group tended to have lower levels than males, particularly of in N -acyl alanines, N -acyl leucines, N -acyl valines, 2-acyl glycerols, and, importantly, free fatty acids ( Supplemental Fig. 55 ).…”

Remarkable sex-specific differences at Single-Cell Resolution in Neonatal Hyperoxic Lung Injury

“…Significant genes were then processed using enrichR (version 3.0) (137) along fgsea (version 1.22.0) (138) to find enriched biological pathways present. RNA velocity estimation was done using cellranger output files, then sorted with samtools (1.14), then used velocyto (0.17)(139), then scVelo (0.2.4)(140). Cell-cell communication was analyzed using Cellchat (version 1.4.0) (83) on room air and hyperoxia samples separately with the software’s default parameters.…”