The Journal of Nutrition Community and International Nutrition Auditory- and Visual-Evoked Potentials in Mexican Infants Are Not Affected by Maternal Supplementation with 400 mg/d Docosahexaenoic Acid in the Second Half of Pregnancy

The evidence relating prenatal supplementation with DHA to offspring neurological development is limited. We investigated the effect of prenatal DHA supplementation on infant brainstem auditory-evoked responses and visualevoked potentials in a double-blind, randomized controlled trial in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Pregnant women were supplemented daily with 400 mg DHA or placebo from gestationwk 18–22 through delivery. DHA and placebo groups did not differ inmaternal characteristics at randomization or infant characteristics at birth. Brainstem auditory-evoked responsesweremeasured at 1 and 3mo in 749 and 664 infants, respectively, and visual-evoked potentials were measured at 3 and 6 mo in 679 and 817 infants, respectively. Left-right brainstem auditory-evoked potentials were moderately correlated (range, 0.26–0.43; all P < 0.001) and left-right visual-evoked potentials were strongly correlated (range, 0.79–0.94; all P < 0.001) within any assessment. Correlations across visits were modest to moderate (range, 0.09–0.38; all P < 0.01). The offspring of DHA-supplemented women did not differ from those of control women with respect to any outcome measure (all comparisons P > 0.10). We conclude that DHA supplementation during pregnancy did not influence brainstem auditory-evoked responses at 1 and 3 mo or visual-evoked potentials at 3 and 6 mo. J. Nutr. doi: 10.3945/jn.112.162461.