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Arachidonic Acid Status of Human Infants: Influence of Gestational Age at Birth and Diets with Very Long Chain n-3 and n-6 Fatty Acids^1,2,

Departments of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Biochemistry, The University of Tennessee, Memphis, Memphis, TN 38163

In three randomized, double-blind clinical trials, preterm infants were fed typical preterm or term formulas and experimental formulas supplemented with n-3 and n-6 long-chain fatty acids. The effect of these feedings on the concentration of plasma phosphatidylcholine arachidonic acid (AA), an indicator of AA status, was contrasted with equivalent data from infants born at term. Preterm infants appear to have poorer AA status than breast-fed term infants at the corrected ages of 0 and 2 mo. The addition of marine oil elcosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (0.3%) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (0.2%) to formula further decreased AA status (Study 1). The same amount of marine oil DHA (0.2%) but with less EPA (0.06%) fed for a shorter interval did not decrease plasma phosphatidylcholine AA concentration compared with controls (Study 2). Preterm infants fed both AA (0.43%) and DHA (0.1%) had better AA status than controls. These observations are discussed in relation to evidence from these same studies that AA status and the n-6/n-3 rates are related to growth of preterm infants.

KEY WORDS: • human infants • diet • arachidonic acid • n-3 fatty acid • growth

¹ Presented as part of the symposium "Biological Effects of Dietary Arachidonic Acid" given at the Experimental Biology '95 meeting, Atlanta, GA, on April 11, 1995. This symposium was sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and was supported by a grant from the Cayman Chemical Company. Guest editors for the symposium were Jay Whelan, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, and J. Bruce German, University of California, Davis, CA.

² Supported by NIH R01 EY08770, NIH R01 HD31329 and gifts from Ross Products Division, Abbott Laboratories, Columbus, OH.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed: Newborn Center, Room 201, 853 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163.

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