Influence of formulas with borage oil or borage oil plus fish oil on the arachidonic acid status in premature infants

Several studies have reported that feeding gamma -linolenic acid (GLA) has resulted in no increase in arachidonic acid (AA) in newborns. This result w as ascribed to the eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)-rich fish oil used in these formulas. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) sources with only minor amounts of EPA are now available, thus the addition of GLA to infant formulas might be co nsidered an alternative to AA supplementation. Sixty-six premature infants were randomized to feeding one of four formulas IST: no GLA, no long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids; BO: 0.6% GLA (borage oil); BO + FOLOW: 0.6% CL A, 0.3% DHA, 0.06% EPA; BO + FOHIGH: 0.6% GLA, 0.3% DHA, 0.2% EPA] or human milk (HM, nonrandomized) for 4 wk. Anthropometric measures and blood sampl es were obtained at study entry and after 14 and 28 d. There were no signif icant differences between groups in anthropometric measures, tocopherol, an d retinol status at any of the studied time points. The AA content of plasm a phospholipids was similar between groups at study start and decreased sig nificantly until day 28 in all formulated groups, but not in the breast-fed infants [ST: 6.6 +/- 0.2%, BO: 6.9 +/- 0.3%, BO + FOLOW: 6.9 +/- 0.4%, BO + FOHIGH: 6.7 +/- 0.2%, HM: 8.6 +/- 0.5%, where values are reported as mean +/- standard error; all formulas significantly different (P less than or e qual to 0.05) from HMI. There was no significant influence of CLA or fish o il addition to the diet. GLA had only a very limited effect on AA status wh ich was too small to obtain satisfactory concentrations (concentrations sim ilar to breast-fed babies) under the circumstances tested. The effect of GL A on AA is independent of the EPA and DHA content in the diet within the do se ranges studied.