Fish oil supplementation improves docosahexaenoic acid status of malnourished infants

Aim-To investigate whether the low docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) status of mal nourished, mostly breast fed, Pakistani children can be improved by fish oi l (FO) supplementation. Methods-Ten malnourished children (aged 8-30 months) received 500 mg FO dai ly for nine weeks. The supplement contained 62.8 mol% (314 mg) long chain p olyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega 3 series (LCPUFA omega 3) and 22.5 mol% (112 mg) DHA. Seven FO unsupplemented children served as controls. Red blood cell (RBC) fatty acids were analysed at baseline and at the study en d. Results-FO supplementation augmented mean (SD) RBC DHA from 2.27 (0.81) to 3.35 (0.76) mol%, without significantly affecting the concentrations of LCP UFA omega 6. Unsupplemented children showed no RBC fatty acid changes. One FO supplemented child with very low initial RBC arachidonic acid showed a r emarkable increase from 4.04 to 13.84 mol%, whereas another with high RBC a rachidonic acid showed a decrease from 15.64 to 10.46 mol%. Conclusion-FO supplementation improves the DHA status of malnourished child ren. The supplement is apparently well absorbed and not exclusively used as a source of energy.