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 .
Fish oil supplementation improves docosahexaenoic acid status of malnourished infants
AIM To investigate whether the low docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA ) status of malnourished , mostly breast fed , Pakistani children can be improved by fish oil ( FO ) supplementation . METHODS Ten malnourished children ( aged 8–30 months ) received 500 mg FO daily for nine weeks . The supplement contained 62.8 mol% ( 314 mg ) long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids of the ω3 series ( LCPUFAω3 ) and 22.5 mol% ( 112 mg ) DHA . Seven FO unsupplemented children served as controls . Red blood cell ( RBC ) fatty acids were analysed at baseline and at the study end . RESULTS FO supplementation  augmented mean ( SD ) RBC DHA from 2.27 ( 0.81 ) to 3.35 ( 0.76 ) mol% , without significantly affecting the concentrations of LCPUFAω6 . Unsupplemented children showed no RBC fatty acid changes . One FO supplemented child with very low initial RBC arachidonic acid showed a remarkable increase from 4.04 to 13.84 mol% , whereas another with high RBC arachidonic acid showed a decrease from 15.64 to 10.46 mol% . CONCLUSION FO supplementation improves the DHA status of malnourished children . The supplement is apparently well absorbed and not exclusively used as a source of energy
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 .