Nutrition and Cognitive Development

There has been recent intense interest in the possibility that infants receiving a dietary supply of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), either in breast milk or in a supplemented formula, may perform better on developmental tests than other infants. The only way to resolve this issue is in randomized trials in formula-fed babies, comparing those fed DHA-supplemented versus unsupplemented milks. To date most trials have been small; some also had methodological problems and results have been conflicting. The possible reasons for conflicting results in studies of both term and preterm born infants are discussed.