More and more as science discovers the benefits of omega 3 essential fatty acids to health and to the development of the growing fetus, baby and infant, we will see a continuation of the recent trend towards DHA supplementation of foods. It is now entirely possible to source a range of DHA fortified baby foods including such foods as baby cereal with DHA.
DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) is now considered to be the most important of the omega 3 essential fatty acids to our health. EPA is also important and is another omega 3 fatty acid but DHA is essential to a whole range of health benefits to both our brain and heart and also becoming clear that the developing fetus or baby also requires an adequate supply of DHA.
But it’s another matter to extrapolate from this that we should all be using DHA Infant Formula. But we can get a clue from a recent event. This was a lecture by a representative of a baby food manufacturer who are making a new DHA baby formula. One interesting fact from this lecture was that Canadian and US residents had some of the lowest levels of DHA of anyone worldwide. This is due to our low level of fish intake.
And equally interesting was a statement that there are clear health benefits to infants and babies from getting a sufficient supply of DHA in their diet including. “cognitive development, improved visual acuity, memory retention and ability to communicate and solve problems as well as psychomotor development”. From that statement you can see the importance of having an adequate supply of DHA available to the fetus and baby.
But there are also good reasons to be doubtful about the benefits of DHA Baby Formula. For a wide range of reasons breastfeeding is much better for the health of the developing baby than using infant formula. If there is a sufficient supply of DHA to the mother in her diet then this is also available to the baby through her milk.
This relies of course on the diet of the mother having an adequate intake of DHA
It is not yet clear exactly what benefits there are from using DHA in baby formula. And in fact the representative of the infant formula company noted that “No infant formula can ever substitute breast milk. It will take years before anybody can tell us how to add the hormones in breast milk to infant formula”.
It appears that it’s too early to decide that we should all be using DHA infant formula for our babies. Unless there is a powerful reason to avoid breastfeeding our babies will get adequate supplies of DHA through her milk provided the mother has an adequate supply.
It is quite possible, by eating more oily fish, to increase our intake of DHA. However fish is very expensive and is generally recognized as being contaminated with a range of contaminants like Mercury.
The best fish oil supplements are totally clean and are also very cost-effective to take daily. Note that not all DHA supplements are good value or good supplements.
If you’re a mother more mother-to-be visit my website to find out where to source the very best DHA Supplements to ensure that your baby will have an adequate supply.
Want to know more about the health benefits of DHA Supplements? Or more about the pros and cons of DHA Infant Formula? Visit Peter’s Website Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oil.
