DIETARY POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS FOR OPTIMAL NEURODEVELOPMENT. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PERINATAL NUTRITION

Abstract

Multiple studies over the past four decades have addressed the evaluation of effects of early human malnutrition on central nervous system (CNS) development in experimental animals and man From the results of these studies, one can conclude that a reduction in energy and/or essential nutrient supply during the first stages of life have profound effects on somatic growth and organ structural and functional development, especially for the brain. Malnutrition impairs brain development, reducing cell replication cycles and dendritic connections. Different regions of the brain are impacted in specific ways; cell number as measured by DNA content is especially affected by intrauterine malnutrition and early postnatal malnutrition; synaptic connectivity is particularly affected if malnutrition occurs after birth, but before the third year of life (1). Beyond the “brain’s growth spurt,” alterations in dietary precursors may determine in part neurotransmitter levels (serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, acetylcholine) in specific brain regions, essential and nonessential lipid supply may affect the structural composition of the brain and of myelin sheaths (2).