Wednesday, July 1, 2009

What Do Omega 3 Fatty Acids Have To Do With Fetal Development?

By Peter Bertonich

There is a fat called DHA that is found right throughout our bodies. It is called an essential fatty acid, and it is essential in fetal brain development as well as other aspects of fetal development.

And it is also found in breast milk.

A developing fetus or baby cannot produce enough DHA in it's own body, so it gets it's supply from it's mother. Before birth they get it from the placenta, and after birth they get it from her breast milk. And for this reason a pregnant or nursing woman is losing some of her supply of DHA every day.

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.

Fish oil is the major, though not the only, source of DHA. Omega 3 fats found in fish are high in DHA. However there are some experts that are suggesting that moms do not take fish oil supplements high in DHA.

These experts are a little wary of fish oil supplements because fish, particularly the top end of the food chain type of fish that is high in Omega 3 can be contaminated with some nasty contaminants found in the sea, like PCBs and mercury, and others.

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

There are very strict international standards for the levels of contamination accepted in Omega 3 supplements. The company that makes the very best Omega 3 supplements believes that their supplements should be free of any contaminants, and seek to make their products to a standard way stricter than the international standards. Their Omega 3 fish oils supplements are free of any form of chemical contamination, because they use a fish that is found in the cleanest part of the worlds oceans, they process the fish in a particular way then they decontaminate to an extreme degree.

So there now seems to be little doubt that mothers and pregnant women ought to be taking the best Omega 3 supplements high in DHA, for both their own health and the health and development of their babies.

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.

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