Importantly it is also found in breast milk.
Now babies cannot produce their own DHA, so they get it from their mother. They get it through the placenta before they are born and from the breast milk after. For this reason a mother is constantly losing some of her supplies of DHA to her baby.
For this reason experts recommend an Omega 3 supplement to mothers to be and breast feeding mothers. Both to supplement the DHA that baby is getting, and to maintain their own supplies. There are other supplements also recommended for pregnant or nursing mothers, like folic acid, but Omega 3 fats high in DHA are now on the list.
DHA supplementation is essential for fetal brain and eye development, and other aspects of fetal development.
Recommendations for how much DHA should be consumed by pregnant and nursing mothers varies, but are around 200 to 300 mg per day. With our modern diet it is unlikely that we get enough DHA in our diets.
Fish oil is the major, though not the only, source of DHA. Omega 3 fats found in fish are high in DHA. However there are some experts that are suggesting that moms do not take fish oil supplements high in DHA.
These experts are a little wary of fish oil supplements because fish, particularly the top end of the food chain type of fish that is high in Omega 3 can be contaminated with some nasty contaminants found in the sea, like PCBs and mercury, and others.
And certainly there are fish oil supplements that can contain higher levels of heavy metals and other sea borne contaminants.
There are very strict international standards for the levels of contamination accepted in Omega 3 supplements. The company that makes the very best Omega 3 supplements believes that their supplements should be free of any contaminants, and seek to make their products to a standard way stricter than the international standards. Their Omega 3 fish oils supplements are free of any form of chemical contamination, because they use a fish that is found in the cleanest part of the worlds oceans, they process the fish in a particular way then they decontaminate to an extreme degree.
So it's now accepted that moms and moms to be should all be taking Omega 3 supplements high in DHA for both their own benefits and for the benefit of their babies and infants.
So it's great news that there are now contamination free Omega 3 supplements available so we can take our Omega 3 fish oil and our DHA worry free. Find out which supplements are worry free at my website.
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