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Perinatal omega-3 fatty acid deficiency affects blood pressure later in life

Nature Medicine volume 7, pages 258–259 (2001)Cite this article

To the editor

Does the nourishment we receive as babies, or even before birth, affect our adult health? The recent findings from Barker1, Meaney2, Langley-Evans3 and their colleagues have established that intra-uterine and early post-natal factors may influence adult neural development and cardiovascular function. In this letter, we report for the first time that an essential nutrient, α-linolenic acid (ALA), supplied in the early developmental period can affect blood pressure later in life. Cell membranes within the brain and retina contain the highest levels of the pre-dominant metabolite of ALA, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Both ALA and DHA are members of the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) family. The best source of DHA is fish. Previous studies that investigated the effects of omega-3 PUFA on blood pressure have concentrated on the anti-hypertensive effects of supplementation4. Conversely, we have determined the effects of omega-3 deficiency and repletion on blood pressure—a relevant issue given the scarcity of fish and fish products in most Western diets. Dietary ALA-deficiency is known to affect various neural functions5 and receptor-driven modalities6.

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Figure 1: Effect of diet on mean arterial blood pressure and hypothalamic DHA levels.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Purcell and B. Bui for technical support. This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia (Grants 007103 to H.S.W. and 983001 to R.S.W.), Australian Academy of Science (to H.S.W.), Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation, Philip Bushell Foundation, National Heart Foundation of Australia, and Meadow Lea Foods Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Harrison S. Weisinger & Andrew J. Sinclair

  2. Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    James A. Armitage, Peta L. Burns & Richard S. Weisinger

  3. Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    James A. Armitage & Algis J. Vingrys

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  1. Harrison S. Weisinger
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Weisinger, H., Armitage, J., Sinclair, A. et al. Perinatal omega-3 fatty acid deficiency affects blood pressure later in life. Nat Med 7, 258–259 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/85354

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