There is no evidence that PUFA supplementation in infancy has an effect on infant or childhood allergy , asthma , dermatitis/eczema or food allergy .
However , the quality of evidence was very low .
There was insufficient evidence to determine an effect on allergic rhinitis
BACKGROUND Early dietary intakes may influence the development of allergic disease .
It is important to determine if dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids ( PUFAs ) given as supplements or added to infant formula prevent the development of allergy .
OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of higher PUFA intake during infancy to prevent allergic disease .
Supplementation of DHA but not DHA with arachidonic acid during pregnancy and lactation influences general movement quality in 12-week-old term infants.
DHA and arachidonic acid ( AA ) are important for neurodevelopment . A traditional neonatal neurological examination and the evaluation of general movement quality are sensitive techniques for assessing neurodevelopment in young infants . Mildly abnormal general movements at 3 months have been associated with a non-optimal current brain condition . We investigated whether supplementation of DHA during pregnancy and lactation influences the infant 's brain development and whether additional AA modulates this effect . Healthy women were r and omly assigned to DHA ( 220 mg/d , n 42 ) , DHA+AA ( 220 mg each/d , n 41 ) or control ( n 36 ) , from about week 17 ( range 14 - 20 weeks ) of pregnancy until 12 weeks postpartum . The control and the DHA+AA groups had approximately comparable dietary DHA/AA ratios . The st and ardised neonatal neurological examination was carried out at 2 weeks . General movement quality was assessed at 2 and 12 weeks . Neither DHA alone nor DHA+AA influenced outcomes in the traditional examination . General movement quality of infants in the DHA group was lower than that of infants in the other two groups , especially at 12 weeks : 61 % of the infants in the DHA group showed mildly abnormal general movements compared with 31 % in the control group ( P = 0.008 ) and 34 % in the DHA+AA group ( P = 0.015 ) . We conclude that general movement quality at 12 weeks is sensitive to the maternal dietary DHA/AA balance
There is no evidence that PUFA supplementation in infancy has an effect on infant or childhood allergy , asthma , dermatitis/eczema or food allergy .
However , the quality of evidence was very low .
There was insufficient evidence to determine an effect on allergic rhinitis
BACKGROUND Early dietary intakes may influence the development of allergic disease .
It is important to determine if dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids ( PUFAs ) given as supplements or added to infant formula prevent the development of allergy .
OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of higher PUFA intake during infancy to prevent allergic disease .