International Omega-3 Learning and Education Consortium for Health and Medicine

There is considerable evidence from population studies that higher maternal intakes of fish and seafood containing long-chain omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, 22:6 n-3) plus EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid, 20:5 n-3) or DHA/EPA via supplementation can benefit neurodevelopmental outcomes in children 4-8 years of age ^1,2,3. The accretion of DHA in the brain, while particularly pronounced up to 2 years of age, has been found to progressively increase in the cerebral cortex up to 18 years of age ^4,5.

While much of the evidence for dietary DHA supporting optimal mental and visual performance has come from studies in infancy ^6,7, some very recent studies report that increased intakes of DHA and EPA can also potentially improve health in growing children. As was stated in a 2007 review on this topic ⁸, the evidence for the potential benefits of DHA and EPA supplementation in healthy children older than 2 years of age is generally promising in some studies but not yet conclusive. By supplementing healthy 4-year-old children with 400 mg DHA (or placebo) per day for 4 months, the higher blood levels of DHA which resulted were significantly and positively associated with improved scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (a test of listening comprehension for the spoken word in Standard English) ⁹. Another recent study on older children (10-12 years of age) which provided 400 or 800 mg supplemental DHA per day for 8 weeks did not find any significant beneficial effect on brain function in healthy children ¹⁰. A formulated functional food (bread spread containing fish flour from a marine source) providing an average intake of 182 mg per day of DHA and EPA combined over 6 months was recently reported to moderately improve the learning ability and memory of children ages 7-9 years ¹¹. This present article does not address children with serious medical conditions although it can be stated that the various studies using DHA and EPA supplementation in attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder have been inconsistent, ¹² while preliminary investigations on childhood depression ¹³ and neurological outcomes in children with phenylketonuria ¹⁴ have been encouraging.

During recent years, recommended intakes of DHA and EPA in addition to alpha-linolenic acid (18:3n-3 or ALA) to support optimal neuronal functioning and overall health in normal children have come forth from various internationally-recognized organizations ¹⁵.

Because of the various limitations in estimating omega-3 fatty acid intakes by diet recalls or interviews and compositional data from food tables, we have determined fatty acid intakes in a population of Canadian children aged 4-8 years by direct diet quantitation ¹⁵. While considerable individual variability in omega-3 fatty acid intakes was apparent, substantial intakes of ALA (average of 1.2 grams/child/day) and very low intakes of DHA and EPA were found averaging 54 and 38 mg/child/day, respectively. In this study, only 22 % of the children met the suggested adequate intake (DHA plus EPA) based on the Dietary Reference Intakes from the Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC) and only 51 % met the recommended intakes for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids for children from Australia and New Zealand. The wide 'nutrition gap' between actual versus recommended intakes of DHA and EPA for young children emphasizes the need to recommend increased consumption of appropriate fish and seafood, fortified foods, and supplements containing DHA and EPA.

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