Fatty acids and sleep in UK children: subjective and pilot objective sleep results from the DOLAB study--a randomized controlled trial.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial with an embedded cross-sectional analysis and pilot subsample
PubMed 24605819 · doi:10.1111/jsr.12135
What was done
In an observational sample of healthy UK children aged 7–9 years (n = 395) from mainstream schools, researchers evaluated associations between fingerstick blood fatty acid concentrations and parent-reported sleep via the Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire. In a nested randomized controlled trial, children underperforming in reading (n = 362) received either 600 mg/day of algal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or placebo for 16 weeks. A randomly selected subsample (n = 43) also underwent objective sleep monitoring using actigraphy.
What was found
In the epidemiological sample, 40% met the threshold for clinical-level sleep problems. Poorer total sleep disturbance scores were weakly associated with lower blood DHA (standardized coefficient -0.105) and a lower DHA to arachidonic acid ratio (standardized coefficient -0.119). In the 16-week intervention trial, DHA supplementation showed no statistically significant effect on subjective sleep measures. In the small actigraphy subsample (n = 43), DHA supplementation resulted in an average of 7 fewer wake episodes and 58 minutes more sleep per night.
Why it matters
This study links low blood DHA status with sleep disturbances in school children and provides preliminary pilot evidence that DHA supplementation may increase objective sleep duration, despite not changing parent-rated scores.
Limits
The randomized trial was restricted to children underperforming in reading, limiting generalizability to broader pediatric populations. The primary subjective sleep outcome showed no significant treatment effect, and the positive objective findings rely on a very small exploratory pilot subsample (n = 43).
Cited by
- partial Controlled trials conducted at Oxford showed that supplementing children with approximately 600 mg per day of algal DHA significantly improved sleep quality.