Polyunsaturated fatty acid status and neurodevelopment: A summary and critical analysis of the literature

The rationale for randomized trials designed to measure the effects of vari able docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) status on neurodevelopment in human infants came from earlier studies of neurodevelopment in animals that were deficie nt in DHA owing to diets low in a-linolenic acid. The session on neurodevel opment looked at the results of these animal studies and discussed outcomes that appear to be analogous in human infants with variable DHA status. Pre sentations focused mainly on measures of development that may be attributed to more specific developmental domains (e.g., visual attention, recognitio n memory, problem-solving), some of which have been shown to be affected by long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) status. This paper derives from discussions that took place during the session and reviews subsequent developments in this area. Although more difficult to interpret, global mea sures of infant development (e.g., the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and Brunet-Lezine) can only suggest a relationship to specific development al domains, but they have been applied in some randomized trials of LCPUFA and infant development. Those results are also summarized here.