Abstract
Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA), play a central role in infancy for normal brain development. They are involved in numerous neuronal processes, ranging from effects on membrane fluidity, signal transduction, neurotransmission to gene expression regulation. Since observational studies have indicated that the visual and cognitive performance of breastfed infants is advantaged compared to formula-fed infants, numerous randomized controlled studies have studied whether infant formulas supplemented with DHA or both DHA and AA would enhance visual and cognitive development of both term and preterm infants. This chapter gives an overview on the significance of LC-PUFAs in neurodevelopment, with a special focus on the findings from these studies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Lifetime Nutritional Influences on Cognition, Behaviour and Psychiatric Illness |
| Editors | D. Benton |
| Place of Publication | Cambridge |
| Publisher | Elsevier Ltd. |
| Pages | 32-78 |
| Number of pages | 47 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781845697525 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2011 |
Keywords
- AA
- Arachidonic acid
- Brain growth
- Cognitive development
- DHA
- Dietary requirements
- Docosahexaenoic acid
- Infant formula
- Infant nutrition
- LC-PUFA
- Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
- Maternal nutrition
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Perinatal development
- Pregnancy
- Supplementation
- Visual development
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Medicine
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