Neurodevelopmental Quotient of Healthy Term Infants at 4 Months and Feeding Practice: The Role of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

Agostoni, Carlo; Trojan, S; Bellù, Roberto; Riva, Enrica; Giovannini, Marcello

doi:10.1203/00006450-199508000-00021

Cited by 314 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The influence of postnatal LCPUFA supply on cognitive function in term infants has been investigated in several supplementation studies (Agostoni et al, 1995(Agostoni et al, , 1997Auestad et al, 2001;Birch et al, 2000;Lucas et al, 1999;Makrides et al, 2000;Scott et al, 1998;Willatts et al, 1998a, b). Some randomized controlled LCPUFA trials in term infants younger than 12 months show a positive influence of dietary LCPUFA on cognitive function, as measured with different methods (Agostoni et al, 1995;Willatts et al, 1998a, b). At 12 months of age, an influence of dietary LCPUFA on cognitive function was not observed (Agostoni et al, 1996;Auestad et al, 2001;Makrides et al, 2000;Scott et al, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some randomized supplementation studies, comparing term infants fed either LCPUFA-enriched formulas or standard artificial formulas, show beneficial effects of LCPUFA supplementation on visual or cognitive development (Agostoni et al, 1995;Birch et al, 1998Birch et al, , 2000Makrides et al, 1995;Willatts et al, 1998a, b). Other studies, however, did not confirm this (Agostoni et al, 1997;Auestad et al, 1997Auestad et al, , 2001Lucas et al, 1999;Makrides et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids at birth and cognitive function at 7 y of age

et al. 2003

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Objective: During the central nervous system (CNS) growth spurt, rapid accretion of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) takes place. This particularly concerns docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) and arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-6), which are thought to play important roles in CNS development and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive performance at 7 y of age and LCPUFA levels in umbilical venous plasma phospholipids, representing the prenatal fatty acid availability, and in plasma phospholipids sampled at 7 y. Design: As part of a follow-up study, the cognitive performance of 306 children, born at term, was assessed at 7 y of age with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. Backward stepwise regression analysis was used to study the relationship between the outcomes and LCPUFA status. Social class, maternal intelligence and parenting skills were included as covariables, among others. Results: Results show no significant association with either DHA or AA at birth and the cognitive performance at 7 y of age. The LCPUFA levels at 7 y were not associated with these outcomes either. Consistent with the literature, significant relationships were found between cognitive outcome measures and maternal education, maternal intelligence and the child's birthweight. Conclusions: In conclusion, our results do not provide evidence for a positive association between cognitive performance at 7 y and LCPUFA status at birth or at 7 y of age. Sponsorship: University Hospital Maastricht (Profileringsfonds: financial support) and Royal Numico, Wageningen, The Netherlands (blinded fatty acid analyses of the blood samples at follow-up).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids at birth and cognitive function at 7 y of age

et al. 2003

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“…In our earlier cross sectional study of breast and formula fed infants where we correlated VEP acuity with erythrocyte phospholipid DHA, the range of erythrocyte DHA values was between 2 and 7% total fatty acids (Makrides et al, 1993). Randomised studies comparing infants fed placebo (no DHA) formulas with those fed DHA supplemented formulas have demonstrated that it is possible to improve erythrocyte DHA levels but have reported con¯icting results (Makrides et al, 1995;Agostoni et al, 1995;Auestad et al, 1997). These studies require careful interpretation since each study has compared a mixture of LCPUFA, from different sources, in a variety of background formula fat blends.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has been related to the presence of the DHA in breast milk, a fatty acid which is not included in most formulas. The association between dietary DHA and improved retinal and neural outcomes has been veri®ed in both observational studies and randomised trials involving both term and preterm infants (Birch et al, 1992a;Birch et al, 1992b;Makrides et al, 1995;Carlson et al, 1993;Agostoni et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of increasing breast milk docosahexaenoic acid on plasma and erythrocyte phospholipid fatty acids and neural indices of exclusively breast fed infants

1997

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Objectives: To determine the effect of increasing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22 : 6 n-3) in breast milk on infant fatty acid pro®les. A secondary aim was to examine aspects of neural development. Design and Setting Double blind, placebo controlled study of infants recruited from postnatal wards at Flinders Medical Centre. Subjects: Fifty-two healthy term infants who were breast fed for at least 12 weeks and were from middle class families. Intervention: Breast milk with DHA concentrations that ranged from 0.1±1.7% of total fatty acids. This was achieved by supplementation of the maternal diet for the ®rst 12 weeks post partum. Results: Breast milk DHA was related to infant plasma (r 0.89, P`0.001) and erythrocyte (r 0.88, P`0.001) phospholipids in a saturable curvilinear manner so that breast milk DHA above 0.8% of total fatty acids resulted in little further increase in infant plasma or erythrocyte DHA levels. The rise in plasma and erythrocyte DHA was approximated by a fall in total n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. We could detect no relationship between visual evoked potential acuity (measured at 12 and 16 weeks) of infants by either the dietary grouping or the DHA status of individuals. A stepwise multiple regression showed that infant erythrocyte DHA at 12 weeks and home stimulation were the only independent factors associated with Bayley's MDI at 1 y (adjusted model r 2 0.18, P`0.005); while at 2 y gender and social score of the spouse were the only signi®cant predictors of Bayley's MDI (adjusted model r 2 0.22, P`0.005). Conclusions: Increasing breast milk DHA levels caused a dose dependent saturable increase in infant plasma and erythrocyte phospholipid DHA. There were no long-term effects of infant DHA status on indices of neurodevelopment.

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“…A meta-analysis has shown an approximate 3 IQ-point benefit of breastfeeding when compared to infant formulas [5]. Some randomized supplementation studies, comparing term infants fed formulas enriched with DHA or DHA and n-6 PUFA (arachidonic acid (AA) or gammalinoleic acid) or standard infant formulas, have shown beneficial effects on cognitive development [6][7][8][9], but other studies did not confirm this [10][11][12][13][14]. Furthermore, one study found a transient negative effect on linguistic development in infants supplemented with DHA [11,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal fish oil supplementation in lactation: effect on developmental outcome in breast-fed infants

Lauritzen¹,

et al. 2005

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-Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) accumulates in the brain during the 1st and 2nd years of life. The objective of this study was to see if an increased content of DHA in breast-milk via maternal fish oil (FO)-supplementation affects mental development in term infants. one hundred twenty-two Danish mothers with a habitual fish intake below the population median were randomized to 4.5 g·d -1 of FO or olive oil (OO) for the first four months of lactation. Fifty-three mothers with habitual fish intake in the highest quartile were included as reference group. The effect of the resulting increase in infant DHA-intake and RBC-DHA level was assessed on problem solving ability at nine months and language at one and two years of age. Infants in the three groups performed equally well on the problem test and no association was observed between problem solving and erythrocyte-DHA at four months. Passive vocabulary at one year was lower in the children of the FO-compared with the OOgroup (P < 0.05), but no differences were found at two years of age. Word comprehension at one year was inversely associated with erythrocyte-DHA at four months. The trial indicate a small effect of DHA levels in breast-milk on early language development of breast-fed infants.docosahexaenoic acid / breast-milk / infant development / long-chain n-3 fatty acid / optimal dietary intake Abbreviations: AA: arachidonic acid; CDI: communicative development inventory; DHA: docosahexaenoic acid; FO: fish oil; LCPUFA: long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid; OO: olive oil; PUFA: polyunsaturated fatty acid; RBC: red blood cells.

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Neurodevelopmental Quotient of Healthy Term Infants at 4 Months and Feeding Practice: The Role of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

Cited by 314 publications

References 24 publications

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids at birth and cognitive function at 7 y of age

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids at birth and cognitive function at 7 y of age

Effect of increasing breast milk docosahexaenoic acid on plasma and erythrocyte phospholipid fatty acids and neural indices of exclusively breast fed infants

Maternal fish oil supplementation in lactation: effect on developmental outcome in breast-fed infants

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