Trial reportArchives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition2003
Maternal docosahexaenoic acid supplementation during pregnancy and visual evoked potential development in term infants: a double blind, prospective, randomised trial.
Trial report in Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 164 citations in OpenAlex.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acid Dietary Supplements Consumed During Pregnancy and Lactation and Child Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review.The Journal of nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Polyunsaturated and Trans Fatty Acids During Pregnancy and Offspring Weight Development.Frontiers in nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Omega-3 fatty acid addition during pregnancy.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Does prenatal micronutrient supplementation improve children's mental development? A systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2011Pooled it
- Effects of Prenatal DHA Dose on Infant Visual Attention.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Trial
- Maternal Docosahexaenoic Acid Status during Pregnancy and Its Impact on Infant Neurodevelopment.Nutrients · 2020Trial
- The Kansas University DHA Outcomes Study (KUDOS) clinical trial: long-term behavioral follow-up of the effects of prenatal DHA supplementation.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2019Trial
- Perinatal nutrition impacts on the functional development of the visual tract in infants.Pediatric research · 2019Trial
- Prenatal DHA supplementation and infant attention.Pediatric research · 2016Trial
- Auditory- and visual-evoked potentials in Mexican infants are not affected by maternal supplementation with 400 mg/d docosahexaenoic acid in the second half of pregnancy.The Journal of nutrition · 2012Trial
- Trial
- Interconnected Developmental Trajectories of the Brain, Gut, and Sleep in Early Life: The First 1000 Days of Nutritional Opportunity.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Effects on Cardiovascular Risk in Childhood: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Association of Maternal Diet during Pregnancy and Metabolite Profile in Cord Blood.Biomolecules · 2022Article
- Complexity of understanding the role of dietary and erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the cognitive performance of school-age children.Current developments in nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake norms and preterm birth rate: a cross-sectional analysis of 184 countries.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Do fatty acids affect fetal programming?Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2015Review
- Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation early in pregnancy may prevent deep placentation disorders.BioMed research international · 2014Review
- The effects of maternal supplementation of polyunsaturated Fatty acids on visual, neurobehavioural, and developmental outcomes of the child: a systematic review of the randomized trials.Obstetrics and gynecology international · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimTo test the hypothesis that maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation during pregnancy enhances maturation of the visual evoked potential (VEP) in healthy term infants.
methodsOne hundred women were supplemented with either fish oil capsules rich in DHA (n = 50) or placebo capsules (n = 50) from week 15 of pregnancy until delivery. Total fatty acids in red blood cells and plasma were measured at weeks 15, 28, and 40 of pregnancy and at delivery in umbilical cord blood. Infant visual pathway development was assessed using VEPs recorded to flash stimuli shortly after birth and to both flash and pattern-reversal stimuli at 50 and 66 weeks post-conceptional age (PCA).
resultsMaternal supplementation did not significantly elevate the level of DHA in umbilical cord blood. Moreover, there were no significant differences in any of the VEP measures observed between supplementation groups. However, maturity of the pattern-reversal VEP at 50 and 66 weeks PCA was associated with DHA status of the infants at birth. Infants with higher DHA status, both as a concentration and as a percentage of total fatty acids, showed shorter P100 peak latencies of the pattern-reversal VEP than those with lower DHA status.
conclusionsMaternal DHA supplementation during pregnancy did not enhance VEP maturation in healthy term infants. However, these results show an association between the DHA status of infants at term and early postnatal development of the pattern-reversal VEP, suggesting that DHA status itself may influence maturation of the central visual pathways.
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