Okensaid the newstudy might have shownno benefit in 18-month-olds becauseeffects in infantsmightbe "hard tomeasure" or "it may be that the benefit ofDHA is notas important as when you're 4.
It could be the case that eating fish is better than taking fish-oil supplements or that women who opt to eat fish are generally healthier and engage in other health-promoting behaviors, Dr. Okensaid.
The results are "disappointing, " said Emily Oken, a professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, who wrote an editorial to accompany the paper but wasn't involved in the study.