Relationships between docosahexaenoic acid compositions of maternal and umbilical cord erythrocytes in pregnant Japanese women

•The turning point where DHA compositions were exchanged in maternal and umbilical cord blood was 6.6%.•It was observed that if DHA levels in maternal erythrocytes were greater than this turning point, DHA transfer from mother to fetus was through ‘bioattenuation’.•If DHA composition in maternal erythrocyte was lower than the turning point, the transfer was under ‘biomagnification’.•This corroborates the findings of previous research.