Essential fatty acid status in plasma phospholipids of mother and neonate after multiple pregnancy.

During singleton pregnancy, maternal essential fatty acid (EFA) status decreases progressively. After multiple pregnancy it can be expected that the neonatal and maternal EFA status is even lower. To study whether the maternal EFA supply to the fetus is a limiting factor to the neonatal EFA status, we compared the plasma phospholipid EFA status of newborn multiplets (30 pairs of twins and 7 sets of triplets) with that of singletons (n = 89) at birth and that of their mothers at delivery. After correction for gestational age, a slightly lower EFA status was found in maternal and umbilical plasma from multiplets compared to singletons. No relation was found between the difference in birthweight of the smallest and the largest neonate of a set of multiplets and the difference in cord plasma EFA levels. Correlations between maternal and umbilical plasma EFA levels were comparable for multiple and singleton pregnancies. Therefore, adequate dietary intake is required to guarantee an optimal neonatal EFA status, especially during multiple pregnancy.