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 omega 3 series (LCPUFA omega 3) 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 LCPUFA omega 6. 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.