Perinatal biochemistry and physiology of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
Section snippets
Polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism
ARA and DHA are formed from LA and LNA, respectively, in the liver by a series of alternating desaturation (addition of a double bond) and elongation (addition of a 2-carbon unit) reactions.27., 28., 29. (Fig 1). Although LA and LNA are formed in plants, they cannot be formed in mammalian cells because of the absence of the Δ12 and 15 enzymes necessary to insert a double bond at the n (or ω) 6 or 3 position of a fatty acid carbon chain. LA and LNA are, therefore, considered essential dietary
Polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism in development
Before birth, all of the n–6 and n–3 fatty acids accumulated by the fetus must originate from the maternal circulation through placental transfer, and after birth all must be derived from the milk or formula diet and later from complementary foods. The central question is the extent to which the developing fetus and infant is able to utilize LA and LNA or depends on exogenous ARA and DHA to meet the needs for optimal development. Delta 6 and Δ 5 desaturase activity has been shown in human fetal
Placental transfer of polyunsaturated fatty acids
Although it is clear that all of the n–6 and n–3 fatty acids accumulated in the fetus must ultimately be derived from the mother by placental transfer, the process involved in this transfer remains incompletely understood. The concentrations of DHA and ARA are 300- to 400-fold higher in fetal compared with maternal plasma phospholipids, whereas the their LA and LNA precursors are lower (Fig 2).89 Delta 6 and Δ5 desaturase are both present in placenta, and in ovine placenta Δ6 desaturase
Polyunsaturated fatty acids in human milk
It is well appreciated that fat is the most variable macronutrient in human milk and that the composition of the component fatty acids is also exceedingly variable.104 Human milk contains more than 150 different fatty acids, of which LA, LNA, ARA, DHA, and several other n–6 and n–3 fatty acids typically make up 15% to 20% of all the fatty acids present. Studies published in the last 5 years show that human milk from women who follow Western diets generally has 10% to 17% LA, 0.8% to 1.4% LNA,
Approaches to assessing requirement
The rate of nutrient accretion in fetal and infant tissues or the amounts provided by human milk can be used as a guide to estimating nutrient requirements of the preterm infants and term infants 0 to 6 months, respectively. The mean concentrations of DHA in human milk varies >10-fold, and concentrations of ARA vary >3-fold among different populations of women; the variability in milk DHA and ARA among individual women is even greater.104., 105., 106., 107., 108., 109., 110., 111., 112., 113.,
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