Study: Prenatal Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements May Cut Babies' Colds

[HuckleB]

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2011/08/01/prenatal-omega-3-fatty-acid-supplements-may-cut-babies-colds

"When women take a supplement of the omega 3 fatty acid DHA during pregnancy, their babies have fewer cold symptoms and shorter illnesses, new research indicates.

At 1 month and 3 months of age, about 38 percent of babies exposed to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the womb experienced cold symptoms, compared to about 45 percent of the babies whose mothers were given a placebo supplement while they were pregnant.

"The data suggested that for most of the symptoms we looked at, duration of symptoms was less when mothers received DHA. And, in the case of colds, the probability of a cold was slightly less. The effects seemed to be strongest early on after birth," said study senior author Usha Ramakrishnan, an associate professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

Ramakrishnan said it's probably too soon to recommend routine use of DHA supplements for pregnant women, because the findings weren't "dramatic." But, she added that the supplements did appear to be safe for pregnant women to take.

..."


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FYI...

[xchrom]

1. interesting. nt

[laconicsax]

2. What are you trying to pull here?!?

You're supposed to be a BIG PHARMA shill who hates anything that isn't an artificial drug made to treat an imaginary disease!!! How dare you be consistent on relying on evidence!

[HuckleB]

5. I just don't know what I'm going to do with my stock of canned salmon infused with melatonin.

That dang FDA is after me!

[LeftishBrit]

3. Interesting!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. In other news, Japanese women have 6 times the DHA in their breastmilk compared

to American women.

http://www.dhaomega3.org/Other-Health-Conditions/DHA-Levels-in-Breast-Milk-Worldwide


Dr. Holub's Comments:

This present report indicates dramatic differences in the DHA levels in breast milk across different countries which reflects the corresponding differences in DHA intakes during lactation (and also pregnancy) in women living in these various countries. We previously reported from our research (Denomme et al., Nutrition, 135: 206-211 (2005)) that the average intake of DHA amongst the Canadian women studied during pregnancy was only 82 mg per day which is consistent with the very low levels reported in breast milk samples from Canada.

In direct contrast, the high levels of DHA in breast milk of Japanese women is consistent with the much higher daily intakes of DHA (primarily from regular fish consumption) in Japanese women as compared to North American women who consume fatty fish at an intake frequency of only approximately one serving every 10-12 days.