DHA during pregnancy may boost problem solving in children

The research adds to our understanding of how omega-3 may play an important role in the development of the baby in utero, with a wealth of other studies reporting that a diet rich in the DHA omega-3 fatty acid (docosahexaenoic acid) during pregnancy and breastfeeding is associated with a healthy pregnancies as well as the mental and visual development of infants.

Mothers are also aid to be less at risk of post partum depression or mood change, and to recover more quickly after pregnancy, if they consume enough of the fatty acid.

Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers from the University of Connecticut and Carol Lammi-Keefe from Louisiana State University state that this is the first study to look at the effect of DHA supplementation during pregnancy on the problem solving ability of the infant during the first year of life.

The researchers recruited 29 pregnant women at gestation week 24 and randomly assigned them to receive either a daily DHA-containing cereal-based bars (300 mg DHA/92-kcal bar) or cereal-based placebo bars. The women consumed an average of five bars per week.

Once the infants had reached nine months of age, they were tested using The Infant Planning Test and Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence. Children of mothers supplemented with the DHA-containing functional food had significantly better performance for problem-solving, while no significant differences between the groups was observed in overall intelligence.