Effects of Prenatal DHA Dose on Infant Visual Attention

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Prenatal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation is linked to improved cognitive outcomes in some studies.
• Previous research often used a single DHA dose against a placebo.
• This study uniquely investigates varying prenatal DHA doses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effects of different prenatal DHA doses (200 vs. 800 mg/day) on infant visual attention.
• To assess infant visual processing and attention engagement/disengagement at 4 and 6 months.
• To determine if higher DHA doses yield greater benefits.

Main Methods:

• Follow-up of a Phase III clinical trial (NCT02709239).
• Assessed 215 infants whose mothers received 200 or 800 mg/day prenatal DHA.
• Utilized visual habituation with heart rate (HR) and a gap-overlap attention task.

Main Results:

• Infants from mothers receiving 800 mg/day DHA showed shorter look durations during habituation, indicating faster visual learning.
• A more mature pattern of HR-defined attention phases was observed with the higher DHA dose.
• DHA supplementation did not significantly impact infant heart rate or performance on the gap-overlap task.

Conclusions:

• Prenatal DHA supplementation positively influences infant visual attention and learning.
• A higher daily dose of 800 mg DHA appears more beneficial than 200 mg for these outcomes.
• Results support the role of adequate DHA intake during pregnancy for optimal infant neurodevelopment.