Postpartum dietary intake, depression and the concentration of docosahexaenoic acid in mature breast milk in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Breast milk DHA proportion was positively associated with maternal aquatic product intake and DHA supplement use, and negatively associated with postpartum depression status.

DHA supplementation and pregnancy complications

“…DHA supplementation of 1.9 g/d for 8 weeks also did not exhibit a significant therapeutic effect on women who already developed PPD [ 130 ], and the result of Mendelian randomization did not demonstrate a causal relationship between n-3 PUFA intake and PPD [ 132 ]. In contrast, several recent studies have suggested an association between maternal DHA levels and PPD [ 133 ], as well as the preventive or therapeutic effects of DHA supplementation on PPD [ 134 , 135 ]. We compared the differences between different studies and found that the year of study was the most significant factor explaining the differences in conclusions.…”

“…Most of the negative studies [125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132] were conducted relatively early, with even the most recent negative studies [126,127] published in 2017. However, most of the positive studies [133][134][135] were conducted in recent years, all of which were performed after 2020. The specific effect of study years on this outcome is not clear.…”