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Mother\u2019s milk is the predominant source of DHA for the baby\u2019s postnatal life, and the omega 3 FA content of a mother\u2019s diet is highly correlated with the cognitive and visual functions of the infant. However, clinical trials aimed at increasing the DHA content of mother\u2019s milk and thereby improving infant cognitive function have been inconclusive. Methods: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the molecular form of dietary DHA is important in enriching DHA in mother\u2019s milk as well as in pup tissues. Lactating dams were fed defined diets containing DHA either in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG) or lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), and the FA composition of mother\u2019s milk and pup tissues was determined on postnatal day 16. Results: The results showed that LPC-DHA was 5-fold more efficient than TAG-DHA in enriching milk DHA. Moreover, DHA content was increased by 31% in the brain, 56% in the retina, and 14% in the liver of the pups by LPC-DHA in the maternal diet, whereas no increases were observed with TAG-DHA. The DHA content of the pup adipose tissue, however, was increased equally by the DHA supplements. Conclusions: These results show that dietary LPC-DHA is a promising new strategy to increase milk DHA content and to potentially improve brain and retinal health in infants. This strategy may be more important in the care of premature infants who miss the critical prenatal period of DHA accretion in the last trimester of pregnancy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu17111864","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,30]],"date-time":"2025-05-30T04:27:58Z","timestamp":1748579278000},"page":"1864","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Efficient Enrichment of Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) in Mother\u2019s Milk and in the Brain and Retina of the Offspring by Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC)-DHA in the Maternal Diet"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Poorna C. R.","family":"Yalagala","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9077-9940","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dhavamani","family":"Sugasini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sutape","family":"Chantapim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karyna","family":"Caal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haijing","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sofia","family":"Nicastro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert M.","family":"Sargis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"},{"name":"Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1192-2997","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brigid","family":"Gregg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"},{"name":"Department and Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9376-8582","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Papasani V.","family":"Subbaiah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"},{"name":"Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-3782(80)90015-8","article-title":"Intrauterine fatty acid accretion rates in human brain: Implications for fatty acid requirements","volume":"4","author":"Clandinin","year":"1980","journal-title":"Early Hum. 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