- 2025-11
- Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) 54
- Tingchao He
- Jian Zhang
- Ai Zhao
- Sha Luo
- Hua Jiang
- Minghua Tang
- Yumei Zhang
Study Design
- Type
- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)
- Population
- 79 pregnant women
- Methods
- multicenter, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel trial; 100 mg/day DHA via milk powder or milk powder without DHA fortification; breast milk and fecal samples collected and analyzed
- Blinding
- Double-blind
- Duration
- from the third trimester to 42 days postpartum
- Funding
- Unclear
Aim
This study aimed to evaluate whether docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation during pregnancy increases DHA concentrations in colostrum among Chinese women, and to determine whether continued postpartum supplementation is necessary to sustain DHA levels throughout lactation. Additionally, the study examined the impact of maternal DHA supplementation on the gut microbiota of both mothers and their infants.Methods
79 pregnant women were enrolled in this multicenter, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel trial and were randomized to three groups (CC, control group; FC, DHA supplementation in the third trimester; FF, DHA supplementation from the third trimester to 42 days postpartum). Participants in the FF and FC groups were administered 100 mg/day DHA via milk powder and those in the CC group were administered milk powder without DHA fortification. Breast milk was collected - on days 3 and 42 postpartum. Fatty acid composition in breast milk was measured with gas chromatography and expressed as percentage of total fatty acids by weight. Fecal samples from mothers (at gestational week 28, 38 and 42 days postpartum) and infants (at 3 and 42 days of age) were collected, then analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing.Results
The FF group had significantly higher levels of DHA in colostrum than the other two groups (FF: 1.49%, FC: 1.27%, CC: 1.11, P-ANCOVA = 0.018) but not in early mature milk (FF: 0.94%, FC: 0.82%, CC: 0.85%, P-ANCOVA = 0.646). At 42 days postpartum, both mothers and infants in the FF group exhibited a higher abundance of the genus Lactobacillus in the fecal microbiome.Conclusion
In this cohort of Chinese women, maternal supplementation with 100 mg/day of DHA starting from the third trimester of pregnancy significantly increased DHA concentrations in colostrum. However, 100 mg/day may be insufficient to sustain DHA levels beyond colostrum. Additionally, maternal DHA supplementation was found to influence Lactobacillus abundance at 42 days postpartum of both mothers and their infants. Future studies should explore higher DHA doses for long-term lactation stability, and investigate dynamic changes in other gut microbiota taxa and microbiota-mediated health effects.Clinical trial registration
ChinaClinicalTrial.gov (ChiCTR1800019461).