Correction of essential fatty acid deficiency in newborn infants by cutaneous application of sunflower-seed oil.

Two newborn infants receiving long-term, fat-free parenteral nutrition developed essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency. Biochemical evidence of EFA deficiency was documented in plasma, red blood cells, and adipose tissue and included a decrease in arachidonic and linoleic acids, an increase in 5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid, palmitoleic and oleic acids and a trienoic/tetraenoic ratio of more than 0.4. Cutaneous application of sunflower-seed oil, a source rich in the essential fat linoleic acid, rapidly reversed the clinical and biochemical manifestations of deficiency in plasma.