{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T05:05:10Z","timestamp":1784005510767,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) plays a critical role in infant growth and neurodevelopment during early life; however, dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids among Indian lactating women is often inadequate, potentially compromising maternal DHA status and infant development. The present study evaluated the effects of maternal DHA supplementation during lactation on maternal DHA status, breast milk DHA concentration, infant growth, and neurodevelopment among urban and rural populations in Punjab, India. A community-based randomized supplementation trial was conducted among 60 healthy lactating mothers (1\u202fmonth postpartum) and their exclusively breastfed infants. Participants were stratified by residence and randomly assigned to urban control (UC), urban supplemented (US), rural control (RC), or rural supplemented (RS) groups (\n                    <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f15 per group). Supplemented mothers received DHA capsules daily for 150\u202fdays. Maternal dietary intake, erythrocyte DHA concentration, breast milk DHA concentration, infant anthropometric measurements, WHO growth indicators, and neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed using the Developmental Assessment Scale for Indian Infants (DASII) were evaluated. Dietary intake of alpha-linolenic acid and DHA was inadequate in both populations and significantly lower among rural mothers (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Maternal DHA supplementation significantly increased erythrocyte DHA concentration and breast milk DHA concentration in both supplemented groups (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Infants of supplemented mothers demonstrated significantly higher weight, length, and head circumference measurements at 6\u202fmonths postpartum compared with controls (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.05). Supplemented infants also exhibited more favorable weight-for-age, length-for-age, and weight-for-length Z-scores, together with a lower prevalence of slow weight gain. Furthermore, supplemented infants achieved significantly higher Motor Development Quotient and Mental Development Quotient scores than controls (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Breast milk DHA concentration was positively associated with infant neurodevelopmental outcomes. These findings suggest that maternal DHA supplementation during lactation was associated with improved maternal DHA status, enhanced breast milk DHA concentration, favorable infant growth indicators, and higher neurodevelopmental scores. Maternal DHA supplementation may therefore represent a useful nutritional strategy for improving maternal and infant health outcomes in populations with low habitual omega-3 fatty acid intake.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1885518","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T04:22:06Z","timestamp":1784002926000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Effect of maternal docosahexaenoic acid supplementation during lactation on breast milk DHA concentration and infant neurodevelopment among urban and rural populations of Punjab, India"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Richika","family":"Gupta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Community Science, Punjab Agricultural University","place":["Ludhiana, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kiran","family":"Bains","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Community Science, Punjab Agricultural University","place":["Ludhiana, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Renuka","family":"Aggarwal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Community Science, Punjab Agricultural University","place":["Ludhiana, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brainres.2008.08.078","article-title":"Dietary omega-3 fatty acids and the developing brain","volume":"1237","author":"Innis","year":"2008","journal-title":"Brain 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age","volume":"122","author":"Helland","year":"2008","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195171693.001.0001","volume-title":"Principles of Nutritional Assessment","author":"Gibson","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref13","volume-title":"The Assessment of the Nutritional Status of the Community","author":"Jelliffe","year":"1966"},{"key":"ref14","volume-title":"WHO Child Growth Standards: Length\/Height-for-age, Weight-for-age, Weight-for-Length, Weight-for-Height and body mass index-for-age","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1007\/s44337-025-00212-0","article-title":"Omega-3 fatty acids and the gut microbiome: a new frontier in cardiovascular disease prevention","volume":"2","author":"Kumar","year":"2025","journal-title":"Discov Med"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"909","DOI":"10.1080\/09637486.2020.1746958","article-title":"Is fatty acid composition of 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Hyderabad: Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition","year":"2024"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Nutrition"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnut.2026.1885518\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T04:22:08Z","timestamp":1784002928000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnut.2026.1885518\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]]},"references-count":21,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fnut.2026.1885518"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fnut.2026.1885518","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-861X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-861X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]]},"article-number":"1885518"}}