I
n
Narita, JAPAN, 2000 students were supplied bread
containing high grade, concentrated tuna-based 300mg of DHA oil once a week.
Students who took the bread containing DHA oil have significantly improved their
eye sight.
In
addition to its important role in brain development, DHA plays a vital
function in developing vision sharpness, or acuity. DHA is found in high
concentrations in the photoreceptors of the retina and supplies lipids to
the retinal membrane. During the first six months of life, a baby's
retinocortical system--which enables it to distinguish between light and
dark-- matures rapidly. Healthy, full-term infants have shown an average
20 percent improvement each month between the ages of two and seven
months. Later on, this ability to see fine light and dark contrasts will
help babies recognize facial features and expressions. It has been noted
that when levels of DHA are too low, abnormal visual functioning and
peripheral neuropathy occur.
Breast
fed infants score better on visual and developmental tests than do formula fed infants, and
this has been related to higher concentrations of erythrocyte docosahexaenoic
acid (DHA).
This prompted an investigation in the relationship between brain, retina, and erythrocyte
fatty acids and diet in infancy. Total lipids of erythrocytes, retina, and brain cortex
from 35 term infants were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography. Breast fed infants had
a greater proportion of DHA in their erythrocytes and brain cortex relative to those fed
formula, but differences were no observed in retina. Cortex DHA increased in breast fed
(but not formula fed) infants with age, largely an effect of length of feeding. These was
an association between age at death and erythrocyte DHA with cortex DHA. In contrast,
accretion of cortex arachidonic acid was dependent on age, but not diet. The higher
concentration of DHA in brains of breast fed infants may explain the improved
neuro-development reported in breast fed compared with formula fed infants.
