Human reliance on DHA begins soon after conception and continues for life. DHA levels in the blood or the membranes of the circulating red blood cells generally reflects its levels in the other tissues. By these measures, higher DHA status correlates with good health and lower status correlates with existing health problems and/or elevated risk for future problems. Essential for early brain and eye development DHA helps regulate genes that control the emergence of the fetal brain in the first trimester of pregnancy. By the third semester DHA is being rapidly concentrated in the retinal and brain cells, from which epa is virtually absent. These cells especially need DHA since their membrane systems are the most fluid and the proteins typically operate at ultrafast speeds. Higher maternal DHA status during pregnancy is linked to more mature sleep patterns in newborns, along with better vision, better attention, faster processing speed, and higher cognitive function. The brain’s intensive DHA buildup continues until birth and for many years after birth. This helps explain why infants born preterm have low brain DHA compared to full term infants. For full term as well as preterm infants, inadequate DHA intake after birth correlates with poor vision and with long term risk for major cognitive, mood, and behavior control problems. The DHA content of breast milk varies directly with the mother’s DHA intake, which is significantly below optimal in the u.s. Inadequate dietary intake of DHA threatens the health of the mother as well as the child. Following on the major transfer of DHA to the child for the previous three months, in the days after delivery a mother can have very low blood DHA, and this places her at very high risk for severe mood problems. Prior to birth, habitual alcohol consumption can deplete the mother’s DHA, as can smoking in the household, raising both the mother’s and the child’s risk for subsequent mood, behavioral and cognitive deficits.