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Breastfeeding, the use of docosahexaenoic acid-fortified formulas in infancy and neuropsychological function in childhood

Breastfeeding, the use of docosahexaenoic acid-fortified formulas in infancy and neuropsychological function in childhood
Breastfeeding, the use of docosahexaenoic acid-fortified formulas in infancy and neuropsychological function in childhood
Objective: To investigate the relation between breastfeeding, use of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-fortified formula and neuropsychological function in children.

Design Prospective cohort study.

Setting Southampton, UK.

Subjects: 241 children aged 4 years followed up from birth.

Main outcome measures IQ measured by the Wechsler Pre-School and Primary Scale of Intelligence (3rd edn), visual attention, visuomotor precision, sentence repetition and verbal fluency measured by the NEPSY, and visual form-constancy measured by the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (Non-Motor).

Results: In unadjusted analyses, children for whom breast milk or DHA-fortified formula was the main method of feeding throughout the first 6 months of life had higher mean full-scale and verbal IQ scores at age 4 years than those fed mainly unfortified formula. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, particularly maternal IQ and educational attainment, the differences in IQ between children in the breast milk and unfortified formula groups were severely attenuated, but children who were fed DHA-fortified formula had full-scale and verbal IQ scores that were respectively 5.62 (0.98 to 10.2) and 7.02 (1.56 to 12.4) points higher than children fed unfortified formula. However, estimated total intake of DHA in milk up to age 6 months was not associated with subsequent IQ or with score on any other test.

Conclusions: Differences in children’s intelligence according to type of milk fed in infancy may be due more to confounding by maternal or family characteristics than to the amount of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids they receive in milk.

0003-9888
174-179
Gale, Catherine R.
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Marriott, Lynne D.
59da580c-2738-49eb-b1cd-7d005b262159
Martyn, Christopher N.
eb9a7811-3550-4586-9aca-795f2ad05090
Limond, Jennifer
8b55d664-73dc-4e17-935b-32b59df29ebe
Inskip, Hazel M.
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Godfrey, Keith M.
0931701e-fe2c-44b5-8f0d-ec5c7477a6fd
Law, Catherine M
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Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
West, Carolyn
cb9ca325-5a99-489b-a6b2-3fbc23c70a23
Robinson, Sian M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Gale, Catherine R.
5bb2abb3-7b53-42d6-8aa7-817e193140c8
Marriott, Lynne D.
59da580c-2738-49eb-b1cd-7d005b262159
Martyn, Christopher N.
eb9a7811-3550-4586-9aca-795f2ad05090
Limond, Jennifer
8b55d664-73dc-4e17-935b-32b59df29ebe
Inskip, Hazel M.
5fb4470a-9379-49b2-a533-9da8e61058b7
Godfrey, Keith M.
0931701e-fe2c-44b5-8f0d-ec5c7477a6fd
Law, Catherine M
96de3379-b92e-42e4-b58b-c0c128a1434c
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
West, Carolyn
cb9ca325-5a99-489b-a6b2-3fbc23c70a23
Robinson, Sian M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b

Gale, Catherine R., Marriott, Lynne D., Martyn, Christopher N., Limond, Jennifer, Inskip, Hazel M., Godfrey, Keith M., Law, Catherine M, Cooper, Cyrus, West, Carolyn and Robinson, Sian M. (2010) Breastfeeding, the use of docosahexaenoic acid-fortified formulas in infancy and neuropsychological function in childhood. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 95 (3), 174-179. (doi:10.1136/adc.2009.165050).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relation between breastfeeding, use of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-fortified formula and neuropsychological function in children.

Design Prospective cohort study.

Setting Southampton, UK.

Subjects: 241 children aged 4 years followed up from birth.

Main outcome measures IQ measured by the Wechsler Pre-School and Primary Scale of Intelligence (3rd edn), visual attention, visuomotor precision, sentence repetition and verbal fluency measured by the NEPSY, and visual form-constancy measured by the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (Non-Motor).

Results: In unadjusted analyses, children for whom breast milk or DHA-fortified formula was the main method of feeding throughout the first 6 months of life had higher mean full-scale and verbal IQ scores at age 4 years than those fed mainly unfortified formula. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, particularly maternal IQ and educational attainment, the differences in IQ between children in the breast milk and unfortified formula groups were severely attenuated, but children who were fed DHA-fortified formula had full-scale and verbal IQ scores that were respectively 5.62 (0.98 to 10.2) and 7.02 (1.56 to 12.4) points higher than children fed unfortified formula. However, estimated total intake of DHA in milk up to age 6 months was not associated with subsequent IQ or with score on any other test.

Conclusions: Differences in children’s intelligence according to type of milk fed in infancy may be due more to confounding by maternal or family characteristics than to the amount of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids they receive in milk.

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More information

Published date: 4 February 2010

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 147665
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/147665
ISSN: 0003-9888
PURE UUID: 19b311a6-3bc1-449e-8ae9-fc4a33737efa
ORCID for Catherine R. Gale: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3361-8638
ORCID for Hazel M. Inskip: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8897-1749
ORCID for Keith M. Godfrey: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4643-0618
ORCID for Cyrus Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3510-0709
ORCID for Sian M. Robinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-7269

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 26 Apr 2010 11:10
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:44

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Contributors

Author: Lynne D. Marriott
Author: Christopher N. Martyn
Author: Jennifer Limond
Author: Hazel M. Inskip ORCID iD
Author: Catherine M Law
Author: Cyrus Cooper ORCID iD
Author: Carolyn West
Author: Sian M. Robinson ORCID iD

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