Study: Pregnant Women Not Meeting Recommended Targets of Omega-3

26 Mar 2015 --- Dieticians have expressed concern following the results of a Canadian study, which indicates pregnant women are not consuming enough omega-3. The fatty acid is understood to be critical for the development of the infant, particularly for brain development.

As part of a project called Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON), funded by Alberta Innovates Health Solutions and carried out by researchers at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary in Canada, 600 women were studied to see if they were consuming enough omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids to meet current recommendations.

The results, published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, showed that the majority of these women were not meeting the recommendations for omega-3 during pregnancy and lactation.

The American Dietetic Association along with Dietitians of Canada recommends that all healthy adults including pregnant and lactating women consume at least 500 mg/day of omega-3 LCPUFA. The European Commission and the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) specifically recommends that pregnant and lactating women consume a minimum of 200 mg DHA per day.

According to the study: "Only 27% of women during pregnancy and 25% at three months postpartum met the current European Union (EU) consensus recommendation for DHA. Seafood, fish and seaweed products contributed to 79% of overall n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids intake from foods, with the majority from salmon. Results suggest that the majority of women in the cohort were not meeting the EU recommendation for DHA during pregnancy and lactation."

The current study found women who took a supplement containing DHA were 10.6 and 11.1 times more likely to meet the current EU consensus recommendation for pregnancy and postpartum, respectively. Recommendations could also be met by following the Health Canada recommendation to consume one to two portions per week of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids.

The results of this also study suggests that nutritional counseling and education about benefits of a supplement source of LCPUFA should extend beyond pregnancy as 44% percent of the women in the cohort who reported taking a supplement during pregnancy were no longer taking these supplements when breast feeding at three months postpartum.