Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Impaired fetal growth is an independent cardiovascular risk factor and is associated with arterial wall thickening in children. No preventive strategy has been identified. We sought to determine whether dietary ω-3 fatty acid supplementation during early childhood prevents the association between impaired fetal growth and carotid arterial wall thickening.

METHODS:

The Childhood Asthma Prevention Study was a randomized, controlled single-blind trial in 616 children born at term, recruited antenatally from maternity hospitals in Sydney. Participants were randomized to either a 500-mg-daily fish oil supplement and canola-based margarines and cooking oil (ω-3 group), or a 500-mg-daily sunflower oil supplement and ω-6 fatty acid-rich margarines and cooking oil (control group), from the start of bottle-feeding or 6 months of age until 5 years of age. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), a noninvasive measure of subclinical atherosclerosis, was the primary endpoint of a cardiovascular substudy (CardioCAPS) at age 8 years. We examined the association of fetal growth with carotid IMT in children with birth weight <90th percentile (ω-3 group [n = 187], control group [n = 176]).

RESULTS:

In the control group, fetal growth was inversely associated with carotid IMT, but this was prevented in the ω-3 group (difference between groups of 0.041 mm [95% confidence interval 0.006, 0.075] per kg birth weight, adjusted for gestational age and gender, P(heterogeneity) = .02).

CONCLUSIONS:

The inverse association of fetal growth with arterial wall thickness in childhood can be prevented by dietary ω-3 fatty acid supplementation over the first 5 years of life.