ArticleMaternal & child nutrition2015
Maternal milk DHA content predicts cognitive performance in a sample of 28 nations.
Article in Maternal & child nutrition, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of breastfeeding with mental disorders in mother and child: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Linking maternal BMI trajectories from prepregnancy to postpartum with breast milk fat composition: a retrospective longitudinal study.International breastfeeding journal · 2026Article
- Review
- Article
- Nutritional Status of Breastfeeding Mothers and Impact of Diet and Dietary Supplementation: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Linoleic and Arachidonic Fatty Acids and their Potential Relationship with Inflammation, Pregnancy, and Fetal Development.Current medicinal chemistry · 2024Review
- Breastfeeding Duration Is Associated With Domain-Specific Improvements in Cognitive Performance in 9-10-Year-Old Children.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Adolescent Cranial Volume as a Sensitive Marker of Parental Investment: The Role of Non-material Resources?Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Human milk fatty acid composition is associated with dietary, genetic, sociodemographic, and environmental factors in the CHILD Cohort Study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2019Article
- The Effect of Maternal Obesity on Breast Milk Fatty Acids and Its Association with Infant Growth and Cognition-The PREOBE Follow-Up.Nutrients · 2019Article
- The Concentration of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Human Milk Is Related to Their Habitual but Not Current Intake.Nutrients · 2019Article
- [A review on the relationship between breast milk nutrients and brain development in preterm infants].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2019Review
- Supplementing Mothers and their Offspring with Long-Chain ω-3 PUFAs Offers no Benefit Compared with Placebo in Infant Development.The Journal of nutrition · 2019Article
- The Impact of Maternal Diet during Pregnancy and Lactation on the Fatty Acid Composition of Erythrocytes and Breast Milk of Chilean Women.Nutrients · 2018Article
- Fish intake reflects on DHA level in breast milk among lactating women in Latvia.International breastfeeding journal · 2018Article
- The epigenetic effects of breast milk and the association of its nutritional content with maternal diet. Implications for midwifery practice.European journal of midwifery · 2018Article
- Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid and Arachidonic Acid in Early Life: What Is the Best Evidence for Policymakers?Annals of nutrition & metabolism · 2018Review
- Maternal milk DHA content predicts cognitive performance in a sample of 28 nations.Maternal & child nutrition · 2015Article
- Does Circadian Disruption Play a Role in the Metabolic-Hormonal Link to Delayed Lactogenesis II?Frontiers in nutrition · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Convergent evidence from neuronal biology and hominin brain hypertrophy suggests that omega-3 fatty acids are a limiting resource for neural and cognitive development in Homo sapiens, and therefore that children from populations with higher omega-3 availability should display superior cognitive performance. Using multiple regression, we tested this prediction in a sample of 28 countries, with Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) math scores in 2009 as an index of cognitive performance, and country-specific breast milk levels of omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as an index of omega-3 availability. Breast milk DHA makes a highly significant contribution to math scores (β = 0.462, P = 0.006), greater in magnitude than the control variables of per capita Gross Domestic Product (PCGDP) and educational expenditures per pupil. Together, dietary fish (positively) and total fat (negatively) explain 61% of the variance in maternal milk DHA in a larger sample of 39 countries.
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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.