Lassek William Day, Gaulin Steven J C
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
Matern Child Nutr. 2015 Oct;11(4):773-9. doi: 10.1111/mcn.12060. Epub 2013 Jun 25.
Convergent evidence from neuronal biology and hominin brain hypertrophy suggests that omega-3 fatty acids are a limiting resource for neural and cognitive development in Homo sapiens, and therefore that children from populations with higher omega-3 availability should display superior cognitive performance. Using multiple regression, we tested this prediction in a sample of 28 countries, with Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) math scores in 2009 as an index of cognitive performance, and country-specific breast milk levels of omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as an index of omega-3 availability. Breast milk DHA makes a highly significant contribution to math scores (β = 0.462, P = 0.006), greater in magnitude than the control variables of per capita Gross Domestic Product (PCGDP) and educational expenditures per pupil. Together, dietary fish (positively) and total fat (negatively) explain 61% of the variance in maternal milk DHA in a larger sample of 39 countries.
来自神经生物学和古人类脑容量增大的趋同证据表明,ω-3脂肪酸是现代人类神经和认知发育的一种限制性资源,因此,来自ω-3可利用性较高人群的儿童应表现出更优的认知能力。我们采用多元回归分析,在28个国家的样本中检验了这一预测,以2009年国际学生评估项目(PISA)数学成绩作为认知能力指标,以各国母乳中ω-3二十二碳六烯酸(DHA)水平作为ω-3可利用性指标。母乳中的DHA对数学成绩有极显著贡献(β = 0.462,P = 0.006),其影响程度大于人均国内生产总值(PCGDP)和人均教育支出等控制变量。在39个国家的更大样本中,膳食鱼类(正向)和总脂肪(负向)共同解释了母乳中DHA含量61%的变异。