Fish Oil During Pregnancy - Important Criteria When Choosing a Supplement By Valerie Rosenbaum At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

In the past, women have sometimes been cautioned not to take fish oil during pregnancy. Today, most healthcare practitioners recommend a good omega-3 supplement, as long as it is carefully selected. Here, you can learn about the selection criteria that anyone should use and the benefits of supplementation.

There are four main things that should be considered when choosing a supplement. Those are:

Purity

Freshness

Source

Omega-3/DHA content

Let’s look at each of those things in a little detail.

In order to judge the purity of a supplement before you buy it, there are a couple of different things that you can look for. Manufacturers that adhere to the International Fish Oil Standards are relatively pure, but some companies have even higher standards. The best way to judge purity is to look for the manufacturer’s COA or certificate of analysis.

The analysis is conducted by an independent laboratory and will list:

Common contaminants and whether or not they were detected

Oxidation levels, which indicates freshness

Omega-3/DHA content

So, three out of the four criteria relevant to taking fish oil during pregnancy can be determined simply by viewing a manufacturer’s COA. Now, why are those things important?

Mercury and PCB contamination is common in our oceans, the fish and their oils. Exposure to mercury or PCBs during pregnancy can cause birth defects. The COA should indicate that the contaminants were not detected in the oils.

High oxidation levels indicate that the fish were allowed to rot on the deck or dock, before the oils were extracted and encapsulated. Spoiled oils cause fishy tasting burps and nausea, things that no pregnant woman needs.

Taking fish oil during pregnancy is only recommended because of the omega-3 fatty acids it contains and specifically the Docosahexaenoic acid or DHA found in it. People, in general, do not get enough omega-3 fatty acids in their diet. Pregnant women are likely to get even less, because only two servings of fish per week are recommended, due to potential mercury consumption.

DHA is essential to the growth and development of the infant’s brain. If it is absent in the diet, there is an increased risk of attention deficit disorders, learning problems and behavioral problems. Visual acuity is negatively affected, as well. The best supplements provide a minimum of 500mg of omega-3s per capsule and a minimum of 280mg of DHA per capsule. Two capsules per day are generally recommended.

The last consideration that concerns taking fish oil during pregnancy is the source of the oil. What kind of fish and what part did it come from?

For many years, cod liver oil was the most common supplement, but things are changing. The biggest problem with cod liver oil, as it relates to pregnant women, is the vitamin A content, which can be toxic and contributes to birth defects. Oils expressed from the flesh of small species, such as New Zealand hoki are the best choices.

Those are just some of the facts about taking fish oil during pregnancy. There are always new things to learn.

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