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 .
A randomized controlled trial of early dietary supply of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and mental development in term infants.
The effects of dietary docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA ) supply during infancy on later cognitive development of healthy term infants were evaluated in a r and omized clinical trial of infant formula milk supplemented with 0.35 % DHA or with 0.36 % DHA and 0.72 % arachidonic acid ( AA ) , or control formula which provided no DHA or AA .  Fifty-six 18-month-old children ( 26 male , 30 female ) who were enrolled in the trial within the first 5 days of life and fed the assigned diet to 17 weeks of age were tested using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development , 2nd edition ( BSID-II ) ( Bayley 1993 ) at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest , Dallas , TX . These children had also been assessed at 4 months and 12 months of age for blood fatty-acid composition , sweep visual evoked potential ( VEP ) acuity , and forced-choice preferential looking ( FPL ) acuity ( Birch et al. 1998 ) . Supplementation of infant formula with DHA+AA was associated with a mean increase of 7 points on the Mental Development Index ( MDI ) of the BSID-II . Both the cognitive and motor subscales of the MDI showed a significant developmental age advantage for DHA- and DHA+AA-supplemented groups over the control group . While a similar trend was found for the language subscale , it did not reach statistical significance . Neither the Psychomotor Development Index nor the Behavior Rating Scale of the BSID-II showed significant differences among diet groups , consistent with a specific advantage of DHA supplementation on mental development . Significant correlations between plasma and RBC-DHA at 4 months of age but not at 12 months of age and MDI at 18 months of age suggest that early dietary supply of DHA was a major dietary determinant of improved performance on the MDI
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 .