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Fatty acid composition of brain, retina, and erythrocytes in breast- and
formula-fed infants
M Makrides, MA Neumann, RW
Byard, K Simmer and RA Gibson
Department of Paediatrics and Child
Health, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, Adelaide, South
Australia.
American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, Vol 60, 189-194, Copyright © 1994 by The
American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc
Breast-fed infants score better on
visual and developmental tests than do formula-fed
infants and this has been related to higher concentrations of
erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 omega 3). This
prompted an investigation into the relationship between
brain, retina, and erythrocyte fatty acids and diet in
infancy. Total lipids of erythrocytes, retina, and brain
cortex from 35 term infants were analyzed by capillary gas
chromatography. Breast-fed infants had a greater proportion of
DHA in their erythrocytes and brain cortex relative to
those fed formula (P < 0.005) but differences were not
observed in retina. Cortex DHA increased in breast-fed
(but not formula- fed) infants with age (r2 = 0.72, P < 0.01,
n = 15), largely an effect of length of feeding (r2 = 0.62, P
< 0.01, n = 35). There was an association between age at
death and erythrocyte DHA with cortex DHA (r2 = 0.50, P <
0.01). In contrast, accretion of cortex arachidonic acid
was dependent on age but not diet. The higher
concentration of DHA in brains of breast-fed infants may explain the
improved neurodevelopment reported in breast-fed compared with
formula-fed infants.
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