Fish oil supplements in pregnancy

Fish oil supplements taken during pregnancy are safe and may have beneficial effects on the child. Fish oil supplements are known to provide a lot of health benefits. When taken during pregnancy, these supplements can help prevent allergies in babies at high risk. In general, pregnant women are advised against taking any medication or supplement unless the benefit is known to outweigh any potential risk to the fetus. Pregnant women should always consult their doctor before taking drugs or supplements. But in the case of fish oil, previous studies have shown associations between fish oil supplements during pregnancy and improved attention and mental processing in the young children. To assess the efficacy of fish oil supplements during pregnancy, Australian researchers assessed the effects of prenatal omega-3 LC PUFA on cognitive development in 72 children whose mothers received either high-dose fish oil or olive oil during pregnancy. The results showed significant increases in omega-3 LC PUFAs in the umbilical cord blood of infants in the fish oil group compared with those in the control group, whereas omega-6 fatty acid content in the fish oil group was significantly decreased. Moreover, eye and hand coordination scores were significantly higher among children in the fish oil group than among the control. Growth measurements of the children at 2.5 years old, as well as other subscales of development, did not differ between the fish oil and control groups. And to add to this, the two groups had similar scores on language and behaviour scales. These findings suggest that supplementation with a relatively high-dose fish oil during the last 20 weeks of pregnancy is not only safe but also seems to have potential beneficial effects that need to be explored further.