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Effects of Prenatal Fish Oil and Folic Acid Supplementation on Infant Psychomotor and Mental Development: Results from NUHEAL Randomized Controlled Trial
| Cristina Campoy1*, Signe Altmäe1, Rosa Ramos2, Francisco Cruz3, Miguel Perez3, Maria T Salvatierra1, Concepcion Robles1, Milagros Cruz4,Maria T Miranda5, Angel Gil6, Tamas Decsi7 and Berthold V Koletzko8 | |
| 1Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine University of Granada, Granada, Spain | |
| 2CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Spain, Laboratory of Medical Investigations, San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital, Granada, Spain | |
| 3Department of Clinical Psychology, Evaluation and Personality, School of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain | |
| 4Obstetric and Gynaecology Service of the Granada’s Clinical San Cecilio University Hospital, Granada | |
| 5Department of Biostatistics, University of Granada, Granada, Spain | |
| 6Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain | |
| 7Department of Paediatrics, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary | |
| 8Division of Metabolic Diseases and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany | |
| Corresponding Author : | Cristina Campoy Department of Paediatrics School of Medicine University of Granada Avda. de Madrid, 11, 18012-Granada, Spain Tel: +34 629308695 E-mail: ccampoy@ugr.es |
| Received September 05, 2014; Accepted January 13, 2015; Published January 15, 2015 | |
| Citation: Campoy C, Altmäe S, Ramos R, Cruz F, Perez M, et al. (2015) Effects of Prenatal Fish Oil and Folic Acid Supplementation on Infant Psychomotor and Mental Development: Results from NUHEAL Randomized Controlled Trial. J Preg Child Health 2:131. doi: 10.4172/2376-127X.1000131 | |
| Copyright: © 2015 Campoy C, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Background: Prenatal supply of folic and fatty acids is related to infant’s neurodevelopment; however, the potential beneficial effects on child’s neurologic outcomes remain controversial.
Methods: We analysed 154 Spanish pregnant women in 4 randomized groups of supplementation with fish oil (FO), folic acid (5-MTHF), both, or placebo, and assessed their infant’s mental and psychomotor development at 6 and 20 months of life with Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID).
Results: No significant differences in BSID outcomes between the groups were detected. FO+5-MTHF supplementation influenced positively blood phospholipid polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and folate levels during pregnancy, at delivery, and in neonates. No effect of FO and/or 5-MTHF supplementation on breast milk PUFA levels was detected. Further, higher maternal DHA and lower n6/n3 ratio at delivery associated positively with offspring’s PDI scores at 20 months. While infants with higher blood folate levels correlated with higher MDI scores at 20 months.
Conclusions: Findings of the current study show no clear effect of FO and folic acid supplementation on child’s neurodevelopment, regardless of the positive effect of supplementation on blood PUFAs and folate levels. However, prenatal PUFAs, especially DHA, and higher folate levels in newborns could have a positive effect on child’s neurodevelopment.
