Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Are Omega 3 Fats Important To Fetal Development?

By Peter Bertonich

DHA is an essential fatty acid found right through your body, and in particular your brain. And it has been discovered that DHA is very important in brain development, as well as other aspects of fetal development. DHA is also a major fatty acid found in the retina of the eye, as well as other organs of the body.

And it is also found in breast milk.

Now babies cannot produce their own DHA, so they get it from their mother. They get it through the placenta before they are born and from the breast milk after. For this reason a mother is constantly losing some of her supplies of DHA to her baby.

For this reason experts recommend an Omega 3 supplement to mothers to be and breast feeding mothers. Both to supplement the DHA that baby is getting, and to maintain their own supplies. There are other supplements also recommended for pregnant or nursing mothers, like folic acid, but Omega 3 fats high in DHA are now on the list.

DHA supplementation is essential for fetal brain and eye development, and other aspects of fetal development.

There are several recommendations for the amount of DHA to be taken each day, recommendations vary around 200 to 300 mg per day. And we are unlikely to get enough DHA, or omega 3 acids, through our diet.

The major source of DHA is fish oil. Fish oil is high in omega 3 fats which include DHA and are the best source. But not all experts recommend that moms take fish oil tablets.

The fish at the high end of the food chain contain the most Omega 3 fats and so would be the obvious choice for a supply of DHA, but some experts believe that these fish are contaminated with some pollutants found in the sea like PCBs and mercury, and that mothers shouldn't be exposed to these.

And there are some fish oil supplements that contain some of these heavy metals.

There is in fact a number of different international standards relating to acceptable levels of contamination. But it's better to have no contamination, and luckily there is one company that seeks to achieve this. This company manufactures their omega 3 supplements a standard way higher than any of the international standards. This is good news for moms and soon to be moms, and for any of us, as we should all be taking Omega 3 fish oils supplements for our health.

So it's now accepted that moms and moms to be should all be taking Omega 3 supplements high in DHA for both their own benefits and for the benefit of their babies and infants.

Fortunately there are now clean Omega 3 fish oil supplements available that eliminate the need to worry about chemical contamination. Visit my website to find out where to source these.

About the Author:

No comments: