Omega 3 Fish Oil During Pregnancy

Moss Greene
Your pregnancy diet makes a big difference to both you and your baby. And balanced omega 3 fish oil during pregnancy is essential to having smart, healthy children.

Why? Because the EPA and DHA in certain fish plays such a vital role in fetus development that some scientists recommend that pregnant women should get as much as you would get from a daily 4 ounce serving of salmon – approximately 900 mgs.

Omega 3 Fish Oil and Pregnancy Needs

According to food consumption surveys, 85% of all women are deficient in the EPA and DHA fatty acids. Among pregnant women, only 2% have diets that meet their needs for EPA and DHA. The rest get less than 18% of the recommended daily allowance.

The reason for this deficiency is blamed on the depletion of omega 3 oils from our foods and our national trend against eating omega 3 oil rich fish, such as salmon.

Scientists believe the need for EPA and DHA begins before conception.

Women require these omega 3 oils in order to produce healthy eggs. But that's not all. Men need EPA and DHA for the production of an energetic, mobile and high sperm count. (Just think of how strong salmon needs to be to swim upstream for spawning.)

EPA and DHA are also vitally important to the optimum growth and development of the baby's brain, eyes and nervous system – in a very big way! These essential fatty acids make up nearly 70% of a newborn baby´s brain, retina and nervous system.

And deficiencies are linked to premature births and abnormally low birth weights.

EPA and DHA in the Pregnancy Diet

The only way a fetus can get EPA and DHA is from the mother. In fact, the amount that´s passed on to her baby´s brain and nervous system during the last trimester of pregnancy is entirely dependent upon how much high quality fish oil mom is getting in her daily diet.

A lack of these essential oils can also put the mother at risk for both pre-eclampsia (pregnancy-related high blood pressure) and post-partum depression.

A pregnant woman, for example, may lose as much as 3% of her own brain mass when she´s transferring EPA and DHA to her baby over the last three months of pregnancy.

Scientists now consider this brain loss to be a major cause of post-partum depression.

The reason is, women with post-partum depression have been found to have extremely low levels of omega 3 fatty acids in both their mother´s milk and red blood cells.

For a woman to stay as healthy as possible during pregnancy and nursing and have smart, healthy children, she needs to either eat lots of cold water fish or supplement her diet with high quality fish oil capsules containing balanced EPA and DHA. Or do both.

Great Omega 3 Pregnancy Nutrition

Fish oil supplements can help prevent pre-eclampsia and post-partum depression, while at the same time insuring that baby gets what´s necessary to go full term, maintain a good body weight and have a healthy, well developed brain and nervous system.

Taking quality fish oil capsules is a great safe, low calorie, low cost way to get your EPA and DHA. To learn about the best omega 3 supplements go to www.omega-3.us.