abstract: @entity3 ( @entity2 ) has been increasingly recognized as an important @entity1 for neural and visual development during the first 6 mon of life. One important point of controversy that remains is the degree to which adequate levels of @entity2 can be acquired from endogenous synthesis in @entity0 vs. what should be provided as dietary @entity2 . We have approached this problem by a retrospective analysis of published body composition data to estimate the actual accumulation of @entity2 in the @entity0 @entity0 brain, liver, adipose tissue, remaining lean tissue, and whole body. Estimating whether @entity0 can synthesize sufficient @entity2 required comparison to and extrapolation from animal data. Over the first 6 mon of life, @entity2 accumulates at about 10 mg/d in the whole body of breast-fed @entity0 , with 48% of that amount appearing in the brain. To achieve that rate of accumulation, breast-fed @entity0 need to consume a minimum of 20 mg @entity2 /d. Virtually all breast milk provides a @entity2 intake of at least 60 mg/d. Despite a store of about 1,050 mg of @entity2 in body fat at term birth and an intake of about 390 mg/d @entity4 (alpha-LnA), the brain of formula-fed @entity0 not consuming @entity2 accumulates half the @entity2 of the brain of breast-fed @entity0 while the rest of the body actually loses @entity2 over the first 6 mon of life. No experimental data indicate that formula-fed @entity0 not consuming @entity2 are able to convert the necessary 5.2% of alpha-LnA intake to @entity2 to match the @entity2 accumulation of breast-fed @entity0 . We conclude that dietary @entity2 should likely be provided during at least the first 6 mon of life.
  