Trial reportThe American journal of clinical nutrition2010
Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation increases prefrontal cortex activation during sustained attention in healthy boys: a placebo-controlled, dose-ranging, functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
Trial report in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 94 papers, 5 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.
Effect of 8-Week Dietary DHA Supplementation on Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolic Function
Ranger Resilience and Improved Performance on Phospholipid Bound Omega-3's
Effect of Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) on Brain Executive Function in Student Athletes
Who cites it
94 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 210 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research Review: Omega-3 supplementation to reduce antisocial behavior - a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Pooled it
- Seafood During Pregnancy and Lactation and Child Neurocognitive Development: A Systematic Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of erythrocyte polyunsaturated fatty acid biostatus in bipolar disorder.Bipolar disorders · 2016Pooled it
- Trial
- Maternal FADS2 single nucleotide polymorphism modified the impact of prenatal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation on child neurodevelopment at 5 years: Follow-up of a randomized clinical trial.Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2021Trial
- No effect of 6-month supplementation with 300 mg/d docosahexaenoic acid on executive functions among healthy school-aged children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.European journal of nutrition · 2021Trial
- The effects of omega-3 fatty acids on neuropsychological functioning and brain morphology in mid-life adults: a randomized clinical trial.Psychological medicine · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Effect of 1 Year Krill Oil Supplementation on Cognitive Achievement of Dutch Adolescents: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.Nutrients · 2019Trial
- Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in the first year of life affects brain function, structure, and metabolism at age nine years.Developmental psychobiology · 2019Trial
- Trial
- A Combined Dietary and Cognitive Intervention in 3⁻5-Year-Old Children in Indonesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Nutrients · 2018Trial
- The effects of fatty fish intake on adolescents' nutritional status and associations with attention performance: results from the FINS-TEENS randomized controlled trial.Nutrition journal · 2018Trial
- Omega-3 Supplementation and the Neural Correlates of Negative Affect and Impulsivity: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial in Midlife Adults.Psychosomatic medicine · 2017Trial
- Nutritional supplementation to reduce child aggression: a randomized, stratified, single-blind, factorial trial.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Effects of fish oil supplementation on prefrontal metabolite concentrations in adolescents with major depressive disorder: a preliminary 1H MRS study.Nutritional neuroscience · 2016Trial
34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEmerging evidence suggests that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), the principal omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid in brain gray matter, positively regulates cortical metabolic function and cognitive development. However, the effects of DHA supplementation on functional cortical activity in human subjects are unknown.
objectiveThe objective was to determine the effects of DHA supplementation on functional cortical activity during sustained attention in human subjects.
designHealthy boys aged 8-10 y (n = 33) were randomly assigned to receive placebo or 1 of 2 doses of DHA (400 or 1200 mg/d) for 8 wk. Relative changes in cortical activation patterns during sustained attention at baseline and endpoint were determined by functional magnetic resonance imaging.
resultsAt 8 wk, erythrocyte membrane DHA composition increased significantly from baseline in subjects who received low-dose (by 47%) or high-dose (by 70%) DHA but not in those who received placebo (-11%). During sustained attention, both DHA dose groups had significantly greater changes from baseline in activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex than did the placebo group, and the low-dose and high-dose DHA groups had greater decreases in the occipital cortex and cerebellar cortex, respectively. Relative to low-dose DHA, high-dose DHA resulted in greater decreases in activation of bilateral cerebellum. The erythrocyte DHA composition was positively correlated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation and was inversely correlated with reaction time, at baseline and endpoint.
conclusionDietary DHA intake and associated elevations in erythrocyte DHA composition are associated with alterations in functional activity in cortical attention networks during sustained attention in healthy boys. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00662142.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.