Background Paper on Fat and Fatty Acid Requirements during Pregnancy and Lactation

been recognized as being of possible importance to longterm infant health. With respect to fatty acid nutrition, consumption of various oils during the last week of pregnancy was found to permanently program avoidance behavior in rats [Messeri et al., 1975] despite the postnatal brain growth spurt in this species, which is consistent with several other studies demonstrating perinatal effects of PUFA nutrition on behavior [Borgman et al., 1975; Lamptey and Walker, 1978]. Similarly, cholesterol intake in infancy was hypothesized to program cholesterol levels in later life, first supported by data in rats [Reiser and Sidelman, 1972; Jensen et al., 1978]. More recently, baboon [Mott et al., 1990] and human studies [Owen et al., 2002] indicate that breast feeding has positive effects on the infant’s later cholesterol physiology, and in addition is consistently associated with later cognitive benefits [SchackNielsen and Michaelsen, 2006]. Notably, experimental studies of the influence of perinatal nutrition on chronic disease development in humans are impossible due to ethical and practical considerations. However, evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCT) that evaluate acute outcomes, reviewed below, are fully consistent with the hypothesis that long-chain PUFA (LCPUFA) nutrition is a key factor linking breast feeding to the infant’s CNS development and the mother’s mental health. Specific health conditions in pregnancy influence either the mother or the infant, or both. The most unambiguous evidence tends to be associated with health conIntroduction