Abstract 1675 Neonatal Nutrition and Metabolism II Poster Symposium, Monday, 5/3

DHA, an essential component of the structural lipids of brain and retina, is present in human milk but not formula, and some think this may help explain the better visual and cognitive development of breastfed infants. Since milk of U.S. women has less DHA content than that of other populations, and since milk DHA is dependent on maternal DHA intake, many have suggested that lactating women and their infants might benefit from supplemental DHA. In an earlier study, we found that maternal supplementation with ∼200 mg DHA/d doubled milk DHA content and increased the DHA content of infant plasma phospholipid but did not improve vision or neurodevelopmental outcome of the infant. This study has been extended to obtain additional data concerning the effects of maternal DHA supplementation on visual and neurodevelopmental status of the recipient infants as well as on measures of maternal depression and cognitive interference. Women were assigned randomly and blindly to receive either ∼200 mg of DHA daily (Group 1; n=43) or a placebo (Group 2; n=46) for 120 days after delivery. Visual function of infants was assessed by transient visual evoked potentials (VEP) and visual acuity was measured by sweep VEP and the Teller Acuity Card Procedure, at 4 and 8mo of age. Infant neurodevelopmental status at 12 mo of age was assessed by the Clinical Adaptive Test/Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale (CAT/CLAMS) and the Gesell Gross Motor Developmental Quotient (GM DQ). Maternal depression was assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Structured Clinical Interview for Depression (SCID). Cognitive interference was assessed in a subgroup of women (n=14 and 11 in Group 1 and 2, respectively) by the Stroop Color-Word Test. There were no differences in VEP latency, VEP amplitude, sweep VEP acuity or Teller acuity between groups at either 4 or 8 mo. There also were no statistically significant differences in CAT (111.2±11.0 vs. 107.3±9.3) or CLAMS (101.5±16.0 vs. 100.9±13.9) scores between groups, but the GM DQ of Group 1 was significantly greater than that of Group 2 (102.6±13.3 vs. 95.2±12.7; p=0.03). The incidence of postpartum depression as assessed by BDI, EPDS or SCID did not differ between groups. However, the Stroop color-word interaction score was lower in Group 1 than Group 2 (72.8±11.5 vs. 81.6±11.5; p=0.05), indicating less cognitive interference. We conclude that maternal DHA supplementation confers no benefit with respect to visual function, visual-motor problem-solving ability or language development of the infants and also does not affect the incidence of maternal depression. However, maternal DHA supplementation appears to improve gross motor development of the infant and to decrease maternal cognitive interference.

This study was funded, in part, by USDA/NRI grant 97-35200-4234 and a grant from Martek Biosciences Corp.