AJCN – Omegas for Early Child Growth and Development

Susan E Carlson

¹From the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS.

²Presented at the workshop “Early Risk Determinants and Later Health Outcomes: Implications for Research Prioritization and the Food Supply,” held in Washington, DC, July 8–9, 2008.

³Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01 HD047315). Funds to support the writing of this manuscript were provided in part by the Project Committee on Early Nutrition of the International Life Sciences Institute North American Branch.

⁴Reprints not available. Address correspondence to SE Carlson, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, MS 4013, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS 66160. E-mail: scarlson@kumc.edu.

Abstract

This article results from an International Life Sciences Institute workshop on early nutritional determinants of health and development. The presentation on lipids focused mainly on the longer-chain products of the essential fatty acids, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n–3), and cognitive development as among the most studied lipids and outcomes, respectively, in early human nutrition. Because there have been several recent reviews on this topic, the present review takes a broader perspective with respect to both early development and lipids: an expanded research agenda is plausible on the basis of observations from some human studies and from animal studies. Other lipids known to be provided in variable amounts to infants through human milk are cholesterol and gangliosides. Short sections address the current state of knowledge and some questions that could be pursued.