DON'T JUST TOY WITH THE IDEA OF DHA FOR YOUR BUMP OR BABY

How do you solve a problem like pulling and uncovering a toy?  Most babies will get there eventually, as they strive to entertain themselves, but according to scientists in the USA, some can be merrily playing away faster than others thanks to a higher ability to problem-solve at the age of nine months.

A research study led by Michelle Judge, a post-doctoral fellow in the University of Connecticut’s School of Nursing and Department of Nutritional Sciences, has confirmed what Healthy & Essential has been stressing for years – that an intake of DHA during pregnancy can significantly assist a baby’s development.

Twenty-nine pregnant women aged between 18 and 35 were recruited to test the impact of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in the diet.  When their term reached 24 weeks, they were divided into two groups.  One was given cereal bars to eat, on average, five times a week and the other was given the same cereal bars enhanced with 300 mg of DHA.

DHA has long been touted as one of the polyunsaturated, Omega-3 fatty acids acting as a building block in the development of brain cells, the vascular system and other tissues.  It is concentrated in the retina of the eye, the cerebral cortex and synopses and is important for both visual functioning and effective communication between brain cells. 

Previous studies had suggested that improved attention and eye-hand co-ordination were the products of increased DHA consumption.  A higher IQ, later in childhood, has also been put down to a higher intake of DHA during pregnancy.

The scientific explanation certainly stacks up. The majority of brain cells are formed, to last a lifetime, in the third tremester of pregnancy, when there is a high rate of fatty acid accumulation by the placenta, which passes DHA on to the foetus.   What UConn wanted to prove was that by increasing the levels of DHA consumed, a baby could be given a head start in life.

To achieve this goal, it monitored the impact of the two different levels of DHA consumption– an average 99mg per day set against 313mg per day.  This effectively put the purported beneficial features of DHA under the microscope, the day of reckoning coming when the offspring of the 29 women in the study were all aged nine months.  

At that time, the babies were given a problem-solving exercise, within their own homes, which was repeated five times.  This was to take a series of steps to retrieve and uncover a toy, sitting temptingly within reach.

When the results were examined, there was a statistically significant difference between the abilities of the two groups of infants.  Those whose mothers had consumed the cereal bar with DHA during pregnancy performed better than those whose Mums who had not.

This certainly signposts a route for pregnant women to follow, but DHA needs to be converted by the body from alpha-linolenic acid.  The body’s ability to do this is highly inefficient, whilst this acid is mostly only found in foods like fish and shellfish, uncommon within a western diet.  Additionally, a western diet is typically high in linoleic acid, which actively discourages DHA conversion.

The answer for Mums wishing to help their children’s brains develop, both in the womb, and for the first two years of their life, when the brain is still growing, is to take a DHA supplement.  Again, studies show that a woman consuming DHA passes on ten times more DHA through their breast milk than those solely relying on DHA conversion from foods consumed within the normal diet.

But not all DHA supplements are the same and the adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is certainly true of DHA supplements.  Some capsules contain very little DHA and are more gelatine than essential fatty acid. The purity of some other products also needs to be called into question.

That is not the case with Healthy & Essential’s DHA products, made from the purest and contaminant-free fish products available.  The fill of a Healthy & Essential capsule far outweighs that of other capsules on sale, giving Healthy & Essential babies more of a head start than babies taking DHA from other sources, who in turn are still ahead of those benefiting from no additional DHA at all.

It certainly pays to use your brain and seek out the best DHA supplementation to make a difference to your baby.  Following the UConn study, the weight of evidence behind DHA and its benefits is even greater, so don’t just toy with the idea of DHA for your bump or babe – do something about it today!

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