Table 4.

Relationships between maternal plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids at 34 weeks gestation and offspring body composition at 4 and 6 years after adjustment for maternal age at delivery, parity, social class and highest educational qualification, pre-pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight, smoking status in late pregnancy, walking speed in late pregnancy, maternal mean daily intake of protein, fat and carbohydrate at 34 weeks gestation, the child’s height and duration of breastfeeding. Associations are displayed as beta coefficients for standardised variables (SD/SD).

	4 years						6 years
	Height	Weight	Fat Mass	Lean Mass	% Fat Mass	% Lean Mass	Height	Weight	Fat Mass	Lean Mass	% Fat Mass	% Lean Mass
n-3 PUFA
Total n-3 PUFA	0.105	0.053	0.057	0.024	0.045	−0.050	0.117	0.067	0.069	0.030	0.065	−0.062
EPA	0.116	0.004	−0.032	0.019	−0.032	0.026	0.112	0.035	−0.003	−0.041	−0.010	0.010
DHA	0.099	0.064	0.061	0.035	0.042	−0.046	0.109	0.067	0.067	0.031	0.061	−0.059
n-6 PUFA
Total n-6 PUFA	0.072	0.073	0.142*	−0.001	0.135*	−0.137*	0.094	0.068	0.112*	−0.009	0.106	−0.105
LA	0.062	0.087*	0.161**	0.005	0.151*	−0.153**	0.085	0.074	0.126*	−0.009	0.118*	−0.118*
AA	0.073	0.038	0.085	−0.009	0.080	−0.085	0.089	0.059	0.070	0.019	0.063	−0.061
n-3:n-6 PUFA ratio	0.079	−0.023	−0.096	0.025	−0.096	0.091	0.069	0.019	−0.024	0.030	−0.019	0.022

^*p<0.05

^**p<0.01