Fish Oil During Pregnancy Prevent Asthma in Children
Fish oil supplements are known for their health benefits, not only in cardiovascular health, but also possibly in aging-related maladies such as Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, a recent study reveals that the intake of fish oil during late pregnancy may also prevent the development of asthma in children.
Under the assumption that intake of olive oil in the dose provided here was inert, our results support that increasing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in late pregnancy may carry an important prophylactic potential in relation to offspring asthma.”
In fact, the hazard rate for children of mothers consuming fish oil supplements during the third trimester to suffer from asthma in general was reduced by an impressive 63%. The relative risk for the offspring to be affected by allergic asthma was even further reduced to 87%.
“Our finding of lower occurrences of asthma in children of mothers who received supplements of marine omega-3 fatty acids in pregnancy is in line with 2 retrospective and 3 prospective studies. It is biologically plausible that increasing the intake of marine omega-3 PUFAs in the third trimester of pregnancy could have a preventive effect against asthma in the offspring. The marine omega-3 PUFAs, EPA and DHA, may affect fetal immune function through many different mechanisms.”
I just don’t understand why they would assume that olive oil is inert, when numerous studies have already demonstrated that olive oil exert various health benefits, although perhaps not in asthma or allergies. If you’d like to read the manuscript yourself, you may refer to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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Tags: allergic asthma, allergies, asthma, diet, fish-oil, functional-foods, health, health food blog, health-food, Healthy Eating, healthy-diet, healthy-food, nutraceuticals, nutrition, omega-3, pregnancy, pregnantRelated Stories
POSTED IN: ~Asthma and Allergies, ~Dietary Supplements, ~Fish and Seafoods
1 opinion for Fish Oil During Pregnancy Prevent Asthma in Children
Tom
Aug 4, 2008 at 8:05 am
That is interesting that they call olive oil inert when studies have shown otherwise. I’d be curious to see what other benefits can be associated with pregnant mothers taking fish oil
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