« Eye Disease: Types, Signs, And Treatments The Benefits of the Acai Berry Supplement »
What Do Omega 3 Fatty Acids Have To Do With Fetal Development?
Posted by Peter Bertonich at Jul 1st, 2009 in Heart
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, as importantly it is found in breast milk.
As a developing baby and fetus cannot produce enough of it’s own DHA it has to get it from somewhere else. That somewhere else is from mom, either through the placenta before birth or from her breast milk after birth. But as the baby gets it’s supply of DHA from mom her own supply reduces daily.
To aid in infant and fetal brain development it is now recommended that moms and moms to be should be taking DHA supplements, or more specifically Omega 3 supplements, because DHA is an essential omega 3 fatty acid. And of course there are other supplements that they should be taking as well, like folic acid.
This is important for several aspects of fetal development, such as brain and eye development and more.
Recommendations for how much DHA should be consumed by pregnant and nursing mothers varies, but are around 200 to 300 mg per day. With our modern diet it is unlikely that we get enough DHA in our diets.
DHA is found primarily in fish oils, along with other essential Omega 3 faty acids like EPA. However some experts are wary of suggesting that pregnant or nursing mothers should be taking fish oil supplements.
Theyre wary because fish can accumulate sea born toxins in their system, like PCBs and mercury. The further up the food chain the fish is the higher the concentration of nasty toxins that you dont want to be eating.
And certainly there are fish oil supplements that can contain higher levels of heavy metals and other sea borne contaminants.
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.
So it’s very good news indeed that we can now source contamination free Omega 3 fish oil supplements so we don’t need to worry. Find out where to get them on my website.
Tags: Heart


Post a Comment