The University of North Carolina School of Public Health and School of Medicine is conducting a research study to determine if choline and/or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA- an omega-3 fatty acid) supplements can enhance brain development in healthy toddlers.

Studies have found that specific nutrients such as choline and DHA are critical from brain development in the prenatal and infant period (the first year of life). However, no studies to date have examined the effects of choline and/or DHA supplementation on brain development in toddlers, a time when brain development is still ongoing.

To be eligible for this study, your child should be 18-21 months of age, no longer breastfed, or on an infant/toddler formula, and should not be receiving a dietary supplement that contains DHA or choline. Your child should also not be in this study if he/she has any identified developmental delays or neurological disorders.

Your child will be asked to take dietary supplements containing choline, DHA, choline and DHA, or corn oil for 6 months and to make 3 visits (2 hours or less) to our clinic. During these visits we will measure your child's height, weight and head circumference and administer simple questionnaire-based cognitive tests. We will aslo ask you to record what your child eats and drinks in order to determine how much choline and DHA he/she is consuming.

Each participant in the study will receive up to $230 as compensation.

For more information, please call 408-3320 ext. 31 or email choline_DHA_study@unc.edu.