Does maternal DHA benefit baby’s immune health?
A new study published online in the journal, Pediatrics has found that pregnant women supplementing 400mg DHA may help to enhance the immune system of their infants.
In the study, infants were examined at one, three and six months old. Researchers also asked mothers about symptoms in the past two weeks such as congestion, phlegm, vomiting and rashes and how long these lasted.
The results showed that while both groups had similar numbers of illnesses, infants whose mothers had taken DHA had many symptoms reduced.
The researchers also noted that at three months, infants in the DHA group spent 14% less time ill.
The researchers commented; “DHA supplementation during pregnancy decreased the occurrence of colds in children at 1 month and influenced illness symptom duration at 1, 3 and 6 months”
They added, “If women want to take it, it’s unlikely to cause harm in the overall picture of the babies we looked at.”
The research team will continue to investigate the long-term effects of the maternal DHA supplementation, assessing additional effects as the children grow.
The researchers added that the children are now turning four and they will study their school performance at the age of five, among other outcomes.
They concluded; “we are interested in the long-term implications, if these children grow better and are smarter”.
Comment:
This study highlights the importance of maternal nutrition for the health of the growing child and adds to the body of evidence growing to support the importance of omega 3 nutrition. It is however, difficult to assess the real benefits of DHA supplementation on immune health from this study though without controlling the many other dietary and lifestyle factors involved.
Source:
Pediatrics Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-1386 Imhoff-Kunsch, Stein et al. Prenatal docosahexaenoic acid supplementation and infant morbidity: randomised controlled trials