Docosahexaenoic Acid in Formulas for Term Infants: The Way from Pioneer Idea to Mandatory Dietary Recommendation

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a novel mandatory constituent of breast-milk-substitute infant formula in Europe. The aim of the present narrative review was to summarize available data in connection with the background of the novel European mandatory dietary recommendation to add at least 20 mg/100 k...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Life (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-06, Vol.13 (6), p.1326
Main Authors: Decsi, Tamás, Marosvölgyi, Tamás, Szabó, Éva
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acids
arachidonic acid
Babies
Baby foods
Breast feeding
Breast milk
Clinical trials
cognitive development
Constituents
Diet
Docosahexaenoic acid
Fatty acids
Food and nutrition
Food composition
Health aspects
Infant formulas
infant nutrition
Infants
long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
Milk
neurodevelopment
Nutrition
Nutrition research
Obesity
Omega-3 fatty acids
Physiology
Requirements
Review
Unsaturated fatty acids
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Summary:Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a novel mandatory constituent of breast-milk-substitute infant formula in Europe. The aim of the present narrative review was to summarize available data in connection with the background of the novel European mandatory dietary recommendation to add at least 20 mg/100 kcal (4.8 mg/100 kJ) DHA to infant formula. The literature search with the expression "docosahexaenoic acid with (infant or human milk or formula)" revealed nearly 2000 papers, including more than 400 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). DHA is a persistent constituent of human milk (HM) with a worldwide mean level of 0.37% (standard deviation: 0.11%) of all fatty acids in HM. RCTs on supplementing DHA to lactating women showed some indications, though no direct evidence of the beneficial effect of enhanced HM DHA on the development of breastfed infants. The most-recent Cochrane review of RCTs investigating the effect of DHA supplementation to infant formula for full-term infants reported no evidence for recommending supplementation. The controversy between the Cochrane view and the actual recommendation may be related to the numerous hurdles in organizing high-quality studies in this field. On the basis of the official food composition recommendation, today in Europe, DHA should be considered as a fatty acid essential for infants.
ISSN:2075-1729
2075-1729
DOI:10.3390/life13061326