Omega-3 Improves Attention Performance in Children

TEL-AVIV, Israel—Consumption of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) esterified to different carriers had different effects on the incorporation of omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) in blood fractions and on the visual sustained attention performance in children (Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;87(5):1170-80). For three months, children aged 8 to 13 years with impaired visual sustained attention performance received a placebo, 250 mg/d of EPA+DHA esterified to phospholipid (PL-n–3) (300 mg/d of phosphatidylserine) or triacylglycerol (fish oil; FO) in a randomized, double blind manner. Out of the 83 children enrolled, 60 completed the interventions. There was an enrichment of EPA (1.5–2.2-fold), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; 1.2-fold), and DHA (1.3-fold) in the PL fraction in the plasma of FO- and PL-n-3-fed children. In erythrocytes, only PL-n-3 resulted in a significant reduction of very-long-chain saturated fatty acids and in an increase in linoleic acid and DPA. Total Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) scores increased in the PL-n-3 and FO groups but not in the placebo group. A significant correlation between the alterations in fatty acids and increased TOVA scores mainly occurred in the PL-n-3 group.