DHA supplementation has consistently demonstrated better visual development of preterm infants DHA status is important for infant development, it has been recommended to include DHA in infant formulae at levels approximately 0.10% to 0.18% of energy.
Higher DHA intakes have been recently recommended for preterm infants, who have higher requirements regarding neurodevelopment.
Randomized clinical trial in which breast-feeding women received supplementation with 200 mg DHA per day or placebo during the first 4 months of lactation. Improved psychomotor development was observed at 2.5 years of age and enhanced sustained attention at the age of 5 years.
Preterm infants fed higher DHA were significantly (0.7 cm) longer at 18 months corrected age.