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.
Importantly it is also 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.
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’s a number of recommendations and not all agree but they average around 200 to 300 mg per day. Currently on the average American diet it’s unlikely that we get enough from diet alone.
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.
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.
