Association between fatty acid status and executive function in Tanzanian children aged 2‐6

Abstract

Fatty acids, particularly the essential fatty acids (EFA), arachidonic acid (ARA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are important for brain development and cognitive function. The objective of this study was to determine the association between red blood cell fatty acids and cognitive function in Tanzanian children. A sample of 335 children between 2-6 years were given dimensional change card sort (DCCS) testing and a drop of blood was collected on anti-oxidant treated cards for fatty acid analysis (OmegaQuant). Correlations and regressions were run between the cognitive measures and various fatty acids using SPSS. Significant correlations were observed between the different DCCS analyses of cognitive function with the omega-3 index (RBC EPA+DHA), total n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. Further, we observed a significant positive correlation between the highest test passed and omega-3 index (p<0.05). An inverse correlation between myristic acid (p<0.02) and highest test passed and the overall pass, palmitic acid (p<0.02) was inversely correlated with all the measures of cognitive function. As the triene to tetraene ratio increased (indicative of EFA deficiency), there was a decrease in the overall pass in the cognitive test. No relationship was observed between Mead acid and cognitive status. EFA intervention studies should be designed to determine if EFA supplementation can improve cognitive function in Tanzanian children. Funding source USAID/iAGRI.