Maturation of Visual Acuity Is Accelerated in Breast-Fed Term Infants Fed Baby Food Containing DHA-Enriched Egg Yolk

Abstract

Between 6 and 12 mo of age, blood levels of the (n-3) long-chain PUFA, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in breast-fed infants typically decrease due to diminished maternal DHA stores and the introduction of DHA-poor solid foods displacing human milk as the primary source of nutrition. Thus, we utilized a randomized, clinical trial format to evaluate the effect of supplemental DHA in solid foods on visual development of breast-fed infants with the primary outcome, sweep visual-evoked potential (VEP) acuity, as an index for maturation of the retina and visual cortex. At 6 mo of age, breast-fed infants were randomly assigned to receive 1 jar (113 g)/d of baby food containing egg yolk enriched with DHA (115 mg DHA/100 g food; n = 25) or control baby food (0 mg DHA; n = 26). Gravimetric measures were used to estimate the supplemental DHA intake which was 83 mg DHA/d in the supplemented group and 0 mg/d in controls. Although many infants in both groups continued to breast-feed for a mean of 9 mo, RBC DHA levels decreased significantly between 6 and 12 mo (from 3.8 to 3.0 g/100 g total fatty acids) in control infants, whereas RBC DHA levels increased by 34% from 4.1 to 5.5 g/100 g by 12 mo in supplemented infants. VEP acuity at 6 mo was 0.49 logMAR (minimum angle of resolution) and improved to 0.29 logMAR by 12 mo in controls. In DHA-supplemented infants, VEP acuity was 0.48 logMAR at 6 mo and matured to 0.14 logMAR at 12 mo (1.5 lines on the eye chart better than controls). At 12 mo, the difference corresponded to 1.5 lines on the eye chart. RBC DHA levels and VEP acuity at 12 mo were correlated (r = -0.50; P = 0.0002), supporting the need of an adequate dietary supply of DHA throughout 1 y of life for neural development.

The Effect of Fish Oil Supplementation on Heart rate in Healthy Danish Infants

“…The "n-3PUFA-status" in Danish infants also seems to be more favorable compared with other populations. The n-3LCPUFA content of RBC at 12 mo in our unsupplemented group (24) was comparable with the levels found in the groups supplemented with DHA-enriched eggs in two studies from the United States and Australia (31,32). Thus, we would expect that the results we report here would be stronger in infants from countries with a lower fish intake.…”

Visual acuity in fish consumers of the Brazilian Amazon: risks and benefits from local diet

“…It has been suggested that dietary DHA is needed for the optimum functional maturation of the retina and visual cortex, with VA and mental development seemingly improved by extra DHA (42) . Several studies have established a link between prenatal DHA and visual functions (43)(44)(45)(46)(47) . The fact that DHA seems to play a role in near VA and not in distant VA suggests that DHA may influence ocular structures rather than the retina or visual cortex.…”

Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for fats, including saturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, and cholesterol

“…Addition of ALA to the diets of formula-fed infants does raise DHA, but no level of ALA tested raises DHA to levels achievable with preformed DHA at intakes similar to typical human milk DHA supply (Brenna et al, 2009). Hoffman et al (2004) investigated the effects of solid baby food supplementation with DHA on visual maturation at one year of age in term infants exclusively breastfed from birth until four months and likely to have breast milk as the only source of milk until one year of age. Infants were randomly assigned at six months of age to consume daily one jar of either standard commercial solid baby foods (controls, n = 26) or baby foods containing DHA-enriched egg yolk (intervention, n = 25) until the age of one year.…”