Directly quantified dietary n-3 fatty acid intakes of Canadian toddlers are lower than current dietary recommendations

Abstract

To date, few studies have evaluated the intake of dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in young North American children and current estimates are based on indirect approaches which have concerning limitations. Furthermore, there is a lack of available knowledge regarding the proportion of children meeting current dietary recommendations for the consumption of long-chain n-3 PUFA as α-linolenic acid (ALA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)/docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The objective of the present study was to directly quantify the intake of n-3 PUFA in toddlers aged 2 to 3 years and determine if intakes met international recommendations. Given the low intakes of fish in North America, we predicted that n-3 PUFA intakes in toddlers would fall short of recommended intakes. Duplicated diets were collected from 20 Canadian children over a 3-day period. Diets were then directly analyzed by gas chromatography. Daily intakes (means ± SEM) of ALA, EPA, and DHA were as follows: 710.1 ± 69.7, 9.6 ± 2.9, and 19.2 ± 6.8 mg/d, respectively. Compared with North American dietary reference intakes, 45% of our children met the minimal recommended intake of ALA, whereas only 5% consumed the target intake of EPA plus DHA. These results indicate that Canadian children aged 2 to 3 years struggle to consume adequate intakes of the n-3 PUFA ALA and particularly EPA/DHA; efforts to narrow this gap should focus on increasing EPA and DHA intakes by appropriate fish/seafood consumption along with enriched foods or supplements if necessary.