This contradicts everything I read while I was pregnant, but they seem to make some good arguments…Fish Oil Pills No Help in Pregnancy.
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Fish Oil Pills No Help in Pregnancy2 comments to Fish Oil Pills No Help in Pregnancy |
   
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Hi, I came across your blog through the babywearing forums and I’ve enjoyed reading it. I do not usually comment on blogs though, but I had to comment here b/c this is an issue near and dear to my heart.
The problem with these sorts of studies is that there is no standard for fish oil supplementation. The best form of supplementation is fermented cod liver oil or fermented skate oil. The fermentation process is the way traditional people would preserve the livers of the fish for future use. There are very few companies that still sell fermented CLO and even fewer studies that use it. Instead, most companies make low quality products and some even add synthetic vitamins to their oils (and esp synthetic vitamin A can be very harmful).
The fact is that low levels of DHA have been well linked to PPD and in other studies of depression it was found that depressed people needed much higher levels of supplementation than the RDA to make up for the deficiencies they had. The authors of the study did not take into account previous levels of DHA and adjust dosage accordingly, they gave all women the same dose across the board (even though it was a higher dose than the RDA). Nor does it state whether or not they took into account the severity of the PPD in the women who did experience it. Nor did they account for the fact that the women who were given a placibo might have been eating plenty of fish and/or getting DHA from other sources.
Other interesting points from this article that do not at all support the headline of “no help:”
- “The maternal primary endpoint turned up a nonsignificant 15% lower risk of high levels of depressive symptoms in mothers as indicated by a score of more than 12 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at six months postpartum (adjusted relative risk 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.70 to 1.02).”
- “DHA did appear to have an effect on duration of gestation, though, consistent with prior studies.” this is not an insignificant “help!”
As far as boosting the child’s intelligence, there is something very disturbing about that being a goal of supplementation anyway. Cod liver oil (esp if it’s been fermented) is a fabulous source of natural vitamin A and D and of DHA, it has been shown to greatly support mental health and overall health b/c of the vitamin A and D and other micronutrients (when I was a little girl in Russia supplementation with fish oil was almost universal, but esp among pregnant women and children). Basically, it is a super food. I don’t take FCLO for the sake of boosting my child’s intelligence: that’s in the hands of God. But, I’m not going to take a flippant headline based on one study that has methodological flaws seriously and stop taking a supplement that has been valued for thousands of years.
For a very good resource on PPD and supplementation & diet, I strongly recommend Amanda Rose’s book, Rebuild From Depression. She battled PPD herself for many years and has done a great deal of research on the current literature and has distilled it in a very easy to read book and several white papers.
Thanks so much for the extended info! We usually post these news links without any sort of commentary so it’s nice to have some more info on the topic. There’s certainly a lot of chatter around DHA these days – I took it with this pregnancy but no one ever mentioned it with my first. I’ll have to check out your book recommendation.