Brain food for babies

Authors

Dilys J. Freeman, University of GlasgowFollow
Barbara J. Meyer, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

112484

Publication Details

Freeman, D. J. & Meyer, B. J. (2017). Brain food for babies. Biochemist, 39 (1), 26-29.

Link to publisher version (URL)

Biochemist

Abstract

How does a mother supply a key building block of the brain required for neurodevelopment to her fetus in pregnancy? The critical requirement of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for fetal brain development, and the poor efficiency of its synthesis in humans, is a tricky metabolic problem to be overcome in pregnant women. Supplying this unique fatty acid to the fetus requires exquisite specificity and timing, processes that can unravel in disease conditions such as pre-eclampsia.