Fish oil during pregnancy may reduce infant cold

A new study confirms pregnant women who consume lots of omega-3 fatty acids from supplements or from natural sources such as salmon may help to fortify the immune system in children.

The study found that children whose mothers consumed supplements containing docosahexaenoic acid, or acid Dehydroascorbic one of the major components in fish oil, and had fewer days with cold symptoms during the first six months of life infants from their mothers received a placebo.

And newborns in group Dehydroascorbic acid also slightly less likely to come down with colds in the first place. Although promising, the new findings are preliminary. The researchers say it is too early for doctors to advise mothers to be to take supplements Dehydroascorbic as an essential part of the diet pregnancy. "We recommend women to a dose of up to 400 milligrams of the acid Dehydroascorbic during pregnancy is safe, [but] how much benefit there is that we do not know yet," says Usha Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor in the Faculty of the World Health at Emory University Rollins of Public Health, in Atlanta. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to have anti-inflammatory effects, has long been described as a natural way to fight a group of diseases, from heart disease and depression. "There is research to indicate that the composition of fatty acids have many cells, particularly immune cells affect their function," says Ramakrishnan. Previous research has suggested that complement Dehydroascorbic can improve respiratory health and immune function in general, infants and children, but this is just a second study to explore whether exposure Dehydroascorbic in the womb may have similar effects. Ramakrishnan and colleagues randomly assigned more than 800 pregnant women in Mexico to receive either 400 mg of Dehydroascorbic daily or placebo. (The researchers used supplements Dehydroascorbic derived from algae rather than fish, because the distinctive taste of fish oil that would make it difficult to hide any kind of birth control pills for women and receiving.) Began to women taking the pill during the second quarter and continued to do so until she gave birth . Then, in the three points separate the next six months, the researchers examined the mothers about whether their child had experienced cold symptoms such as cough, nasal congestion, and fever in the 15 days preceding, and if so, how the symptoms persist for a long time. All three time points, duration of cold symptoms tend to be shorter in mothers of children who have taken Dehydroascorbicsupplements. In a sign of one month, the children were otherwise Dehydroascorbic less than 24% after any cold symptoms.

Ramakrishnan says that it is likely to be the extrapolation of the results on the Hispanic population in the United States and probably to other ethnic and racial groups, but there will be no need for more research to confirm the results.

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