DHA formula enhances babies’ cognitive ability

Researchers based at the Retina Foundation Southwest and the University of Texas studied 229 infants who received either the infant formula supplemented with DHA or the standard formula.

All the babies were administered the formulae at different ages; some since birth, some since they were weaned at 6 weeks and the last group of babies was put on the either formula since they were 4- to 6-months old.

At nine months of age, the babies were subjected to a series of tests involving blankets and rattles. The babies had to figure out that they needed to pull the blanket covering the rattle together with another cloth on which the toy was placed so that it comes close enough and gets easier to grab.

Babies fed with DHA formula performed better in cognitive test
It was found that the babies who were put on the DHA formula performed significantly better in the problem-solving tests than the babies who were given the regular formula. They showed more intentional behaviors to get the rattle than their counterparts who weren't given the DHA formula.

In addition to this, the babies who were transitioned from breast milk to DHA formula when they were 4- to 6-months-old also performed equally well in the tests. The researchers speculated that as those babies were fed with breast milk for so long, the DHA formula might have proved superfluous for them.

James Drover, an assistant professor of psychology at Newfoundland and Labrador's Memorial University who helped conduct the study during a post-doctoral fellowship at the Retina Foundation in Dallas said, "So it's very goal-directed. They have to carry out those behaviours in order to get the toy."

"And what we found was the children that were fed the DHA-supplemented formula were more likely to show these goal-directed behaviours. They had higher intentions scores. Not only that, but they were more likely to be successful on each trial."

Is DHA a substitute of mother’s milk?
The doctors still advocate mother’s milk which is considered to be a more natural source of DHA. They are concerned that the study may be directed towards marketing a replacement for mother’s milk.

Commenting on this, Drover said, "We need to take notice and decide whether or not we should be putting DHA in the formulas."

"Is there consistent advantage? And if there is a consistent advantage, maybe it should be standard for DHA to be in infant formula," he added.

"The marketing has actually dissuaded mothers from choosing exclusive breast-feeding, which is preferred from all the outcomes that we understand," said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a pediatrician with Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey.

"There are many other factors in human milk that also support neurocognitive development and visual acuity," said Feldman-Winter.

DHA has been routinely added to the infant formulas by the manufacturers, but the researchers have yet to find out how exactly DHA contributes towards higher cognitive skills among babies.

The study is published in the journal Child Development.