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- Title
Visual, cognitive, and language assessments at 39 months: a follow-up study of children fed formulas containing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids to 1 year of age.
- Authors
Auestad, Nancy; Scott, David T; Janowsky, Jeri S; Jacobsen, Cynthia; Carroll, Robin E; Montalto, Michael B; Halter, Robin; Qiu, Wenzi; Jacobs, Joan R; Connor, William E; Connor, Sonja L; Taylor, James A; Neuringer, Martha; Fitzgerald, Kathleen M; Hall, Robert T
- Abstract
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids found in breast milk and recently added to infant formulas. Their importance in infant nutrition was recognized by the rapid accretion of these fatty acids in the brain during the first postnatal year, reports of enhanced intellectual development in breastfed children, and recognition of the physiologic importance of DHA in visual and neural systems from studies in animal models. These considerations led to clinical trials to evaluate whether infant formulas that are supplemented with DHA or both DHA and ARA would enhance visual and cognitive development or whether conversion of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid, the essential fatty acid precursors of ARA and DHA, respectively, at the levels found in infant formulas is sufficient to support adequately visual and cognitive development. Visual and cognitive development were not different with supplementation in some studies, whereas other studies reported benefits of adding DHA or both DHA and ARA to formula. One of the first trials with term infants that were fed formula supplemented with DHA or both DHA and ARA evaluated growth, visual acuity (Visual Evoked Potential; Acuity Card Procedure), mental and motor development (Bayley Scales of Infant Development), and early language development (MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories). Growth, visual acuity, and mental and motor development were not different among the 3 formula groups or between the breastfed and formula-fed infants in the first year of life. At 14 months of age, infants who were fed the formula with DHA but no ARA had lower vocabulary production and comprehension scores than infants who were fed the unsupplemented control formula or who were breastfed, respectively. The present follow-up study evaluated IQ, receptive and expressive vocabulary, visual-motor function, and visual acuity of children from the original trial when they reached 39 months of age.
- Publication
Pediatrics, 2003, Vol 112, Issue 3 Pt 1, pe177
- ISSN
1098-4275
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1542/peds.112.3.e177