Abstract
Dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) such as arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been suggested among the possible causes of higher neurodevelopmental scores obtained by children fed human milk as infants (1–4). Experimental data show that dietary supplementation with or deprivation of linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid, the precursors of LCPUFA, during the early stages of growth affect both the LCPUFA composition of the nervous tissue and sensorimotor development (5–8). Decreased levels of DHA, the major n-3 LCPUFA derived from α-linolenic acid, have been associated with altered learning patterns in animals, while dietary supplementation with preformed DHA increases DHA levels in nervous tissues and improves learning skills (9,10). Recent studies also found a significant relationship between DHA concentrations in erythrocytes and performance of full-term infants in visual acuity tests (11,12)
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Abbreviations
- AA:
-
arachidonic acid, 20:4 n-6
- DHA:
-
docosahexaenoic acid, 22:6 n-3
- DQ:
-
developmental quotient
- FA:
-
fatty acid
- HM:
-
human milk
- LCPUFA:
-
long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid
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Agostoni, C., Trojan, S., Bellù, R., Riva, E., Luotti, D., Giovannini, M. (1996). LCPUFA status and developmental quotient in term infants fed different dietary sources of lipids in the first months of life. In: Bindels, J.G., Goedhart, A.C., Visser, H.K.A. (eds) Recent Developments in Infant Nutrition. Tenth Nutricia Symposium, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1790-3_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1790-3_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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