DHA is in fish oil. Breastfeeding mothers ought also have enough of it in their milk.

For quite some time now the benefits of breastfeeding have been well recognized. However it is now becoming equally well recognized that there are many benefits to a growing baby from an adequate consumption of DHA. Breastfeeding is how a growing baby sources it’s DHA, the most important Omega 3 essential fatty acid.

There are 2 principal Omega 3 essential fatty acids, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) that are now well recognized as essential to the health of all people, including growing babies and even including fetuses. An adequate intake of DHA is very important for the health of a growing fetus right from day one and we have written about the importance of an adequate intake of Omega 3 during pregnancy.

But maintaining an adequate supply of Omega 3 fats for the mother should not just stop at the end of pregnancy and birth of the baby. One of the most important breastfeeding tips is for the mother to maintain an adequate intake of DHA and EPA for the health of the growing baby during breastfeeding.

Omega 3 essential fatty acids are not produced in the body and the only source of these essential fats is food. Of course the only food that a baby eats is milk, and for breastfed babies it is breastmilk. So if DHA and EPA are important to the development of growing babies then it’s essential that they be found in the mothers breastmilk. This is one of the most important aspect of breastfeeding. Diet is very important to all of us, including babies.

Why is it essential that a baby get an adequate supply of DHA from breastfeeding? DHA is very important for a range of reasons including improving learning ability, improving memory, improving vision and more.

Here’s a quote from the website of Dr. Bruce Holub, a noted Emeritus professor in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelf, and previous president of the Nutrition Society of Canada.

“Supplementation of breast-feeding women with 200 mg DHA/day for four months after delivery resulted in higher circulating levels of DHA in their blood plasma phospholipid and higher scores on the Bayley Psychomotor Development Index at 30 months of age. Positive relationships have also been reported for high levels of DHA in mothers’ milk and visual development in term infants as well as optimized arousal in newborn infants. A Norwegian study indicated that women who supplemented their diet with 1183 mg DHA and 803 mg EPA per day for a 3 month period after delivery, after supplementing at a similar level from week 18 of pregnancy, gave rise to young children at four years of age who exhibited more favourable mental development based on the augmentation of their IQ assessments.”

Studies have shown that the average American, in fact over 90 percent of us, are deficient in the important Omega 3 essential fatty acids. These important fats are found in fish. A diet high in fish and other seafoods should produce adequate levels of Omega3 fats in the body, however almost none of us eat sufficient fish for this to be the case.

It is possible to get an Omega 3 fat, called ALA, from plant sources however this is nowhere near as beneficial as DHA and EPA and a diet high in plants containing ALA is not sufficient to produce sufficient Omega3 fats, including DHA, in the breastmilk.

DHA is found in fish oil. Breastfeeding mothers should not eat too much fish for reasons of contamination however the best way to get an adequate dietary intake of DHA is taking fish oil supplements. The best ones, (though not all) are contamination free, are relatively cost-effective and can be taken daily. By taking daily supplements of fish oil breastfeeding mothers can ensure adequate levels of DHA in their milk. Read the rest of this entry

Is there an Omega 3 allergies link, and can you use fish oil supplements to help improve the symptoms of allergies?

We have talked extensively about the benefits of Omega 3 essential fatty acids and the importance of using fish oil for health. There are now also studies clearly suggesting that using fish oil for allergies is beneficial as well.

One of the major health benefits of Omega 3 is its anti-inflammatory effects. In other words increasing your intake of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), the 2 most important essential fatty acids known as Omega 3 fatty acids, helps reduce inflammation in the body and this in turn can benefit any health condition created or affected by inflammation. This includes many allergies.

Fish oil benefits our health in many ways. Science is now starting to find benefits from taking fish oil to help alleviate the symptoms of hay fever, sinus infections, allergic skin conditions such as hives and eczema as well as asthma and food allergies.

For instance one of the problems associated with asthma is difficulty breathing due to airway constriction which is caused by airway inflammation. Studies are now showing that this inflammation can be benefited by increasing the intake of Omega3 fats in the diet.

And it’s not just adult allergies. Fish oil is also known to help reduce the incidence of allergies in babies where the mother has a sufficient level of Omega3 intake during pregnancy, particularly for babies born to women with a history of asthma or hay fever.

Remember though that fish itself can be an allergen and this ought be borne in mind for anyone with a food allergy. Tread carefully and make sure you have the cause of the allergy diagnosed first.

Of course it is inadequate, if you have allergies, to merely rely on Omega 3 intake. Allergies are a complex health problem and should be treated by a qualified health professional. There are effective treatments for many allergies and these should be pursued.

However if you do have allergies, fish oil supplementation may be an important part of an overall plan to reduce the symptoms of those allergies.

And of course as we have said here before there are numerous benefits to supplement in your diet supplements containing Omega 3. Allergies may respond to Omega 3 supplementation that there are many more reasons to take fish oil supplements than simply to help improve allergy symptoms.

The American Heart Association now recommend everyone have a minimum intake of the 2 most important Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA. The heart benefits of supplementing the diet with Omega 3 fats are now clearly established to the satisfaction of the AHA. Read the rest of this entry

Are Norwegian fish oil capsules the cleanest fish oil supplements or are there better alternatives?

For some time there has been some focus on Norwegian fish oil capsules as many people have sought to find fish oil supplements from Norway. Lets examine why and consider whether Norwegian fish oil capsules are any better than any other fish oil capsules, or are even as good as some alternatives.

One of the reasons Norwegian fish oil supplements were so popular in the past was that became increasingly obvious that there were fish oil capsules on the market containing contaminants such as Mercury, PCBs, pesticides and heavy metals and more. It was considered that fish oil from Norway would be cleaner than fish oil sourced from other locations because the waters off Norway should be cleaner than some other waters where fish were sourced.

This for the obvious reason that Norway is a long way north and hopefully the waters off Norway should be relatively free of contamination.

Cleanliness of your fish oil is paramount. The FDA recommends that we do not eat too much fish purely because fish, in almost all cases, are contaminated and we ought not eat too much because many of these contaminants build up in our system. This is particularly true for pregnant women.

There are very many fish oil supplements available on the market. Many, including the major brand of  fish oil capsules from Norway, claim to be free of contaminants as a result of a decontamination process that their fish oils undergo and the fact that their fish are sourced from the clean pristine waters of Norway.

It is very difficult to establish to your own satisfaction exactly how true these claims are. We are certainly not saying that any brand of fish oil supplements including any from Norway are contaminated, we are merely saying that in many cases it’s very hard to know how true the claims are that the oils used in the manufacture of the capsules are contamination free other than the claims made that this is the case.

We always like to see some independent evidence of any of the claims made about cleanliness. It may be entirely true that Norwegian fishoils are cleaner than others however we would like to see, on the website of any fish oil supplement manufacturer, some evidence of this.

For example where the fish oils used in the manufacture of supplements are independently tested by recognized laboratories we would like to see the Certificate of Analysis that is produced by that laboratory. If the Certificate of Analysis of the oils used is published then you can see for yourself what the results of the testing are.

We have spent some time looking around the website of the manufacturer of the major branded Norwegian fish oil, Carlson’s. Whilst probably excellent Omega 3 supplements the website for Carlson’s Norwegian fish oil supplements does not seem to have any Certificate of Analysis published for the benefit of users despite claims that these tests have been done.

Of course this may be there and hard to find, we have not been able to find one and so if we cannot other visitors probably cannot as well, if it exists. And this certainly doesn’t prove that their supplements are contaminated, just that we like to see evidence.

Our preferred brand of fish oil is that produced by Xtend Life. We have written here before why we prefer Xtend Life Omega 3 supplements, including that they specify quite clearly on their website where the fish comes from that is used to produce the fish oil, how it is processed, what process is used to decontaminate the fish oil and also because they publish each Certificate of Analysis produced by two independent laboratories as evidence of the fact that their fish oils are entirely clean.

The reason why so many people in the past preferred Norwegian fish oil supplements is because Norwegian waters are considered to be cleaner than those where fish are regularly caught for fish oil supplements, including the north Atlantic which is particularly contaminated. Read the rest of this entry