Saturday 4 July 2009

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

By Peter Bertonich

DHA is a fat, or more strictly speaking and essential fatty acid. It is found right through our bodies and more importantly it is the major fat found in our brains. And DHA is essential for proper fetal and infant brain development.

And 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

So it's great news that there are now contamination free Omega 3 supplements available so we can take our Omega 3 fish oil and our DHA worry free. Find out which supplements are worry free at my website.

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