TY - JOUR A1 - Libuda, Lars A1 - Mesch, Christina M. A1 - Stimming, Madlen A1 - Demmelmair, Hans A1 - Koletzko, Berthold A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Blanke, Katharina A1 - Reischl, Eva A1 - Kalhoff, Hermann A1 - Kersting, Mathilde T1 - Fatty acid supply with complementary foods and LC-PUFA status in healthy infants: results of a randomised controlled trial JF - European journal of nutrition N2 - Purpose Introduction of complementary food usually leads to decreasing intakes of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA), compared to full breast-feeding. In the randomised controlled PINGU intervention trial, we tested the effects of complementary foods with different contents of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on term infant LC-PUFA status. Methods Healthy infants born at term were randomised to receive from the introduction of complementary feeding at the age of 4 to 6 months until age of 10 months ready-made complementary meals either with ALA-rich rapeseed oil (intervention group (IG)-R), with salmon twice weekly to provide preformed DHA (IG-F), or with linoleic acid-rich corn oil (control group, CG). Fatty acid composition was assessed in erythrocyte (RBC) and plasma glycerophospholipids. Results Complete data of fatty acids in RBC (plasma) were available from 158 (155) infants. After intervention, infants assigned to IG-F showed higher RBC and plasma percentages of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), DHA, and total n-3 LC-PUFA than CG (each p < 0.001). In IG-R, levels of ALA and the ratio of ALA to LA in plasma and RBC (all p < 0.0001) as well as RBC-EPA (p < 0.0001) were higher than in CG, while DHA levels did not differ between IG-R and CG. Conclusions Regular fish consumption during complementary feeding enhances infant EPA and DHA status. The usage of rapeseed oil in small amounts concordant with EU-law for commercial meals enhances endogenic EPA-synthesis, but does not affect DHA status. Provision of oily fish with complementary feeds is advisable to prevent a decline of DHA status. Clinical Trial Registration www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT01487889, title: Polyunsaturated fatty acids in child nutrition-a German multimodal optimisation study (PINGU). KW - DHA KW - Fish KW - Rapeseed oil KW - Complementary food KW - Complementary feeding KW - Alpha-linolenic acid KW - DHA status Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-0982-2 SN - 1436-6207 SN - 1436-6215 VL - 55 SP - 1633 EP - 1644 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER -