Omega-3 supplements during pregnancy can protect children from high blood pressure



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A new study reveals that pregnant women who consume a daily serving of fatty fish or take supplements can protect their unborn child from high blood pressure.

By studying obese children under six, the researchers found that some had not experienced the typical outbreak of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure.

Subsequent research showed that most of these children had mothers who had taken DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid) during pregnancy.

The best results were observed in children of women taking 600 mg of DHA per day.

DHA is found mainly in fish and seafood such as herring, oysters and eggs.

Salmon contains about 2,477 mg per 170 g fillet, tuna 1940 mg in a 6 oz fillet, Atlantic cod 277 mg per 6 oz fillet.

The results are important because the prevalence of high blood pressure during childhood is on the rise, in part because of high obesity rates during childhood.

Nutrition co-author Susan Carlson of the University of Kansas explained, "The consumption of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid from fish oil is well known for reducing blood pressure. in adults and children.

"However, the potential badociation of DHA in utero and early childhood with long-term physiological functions, including blood pressure, is of recent interest.

"An observational study in the Netherlands linked higher exposure to intrauterine DHA with low blood pressure in children.

"However, the badociation between prenatal DHA supplement intake and blood pressure in the child has not been evaluated in randomized clinical trials."

The study enrolled pregnant women in the maternal and child nutrition and development laboratory at the University of Kansas between March 2006 and September 2009.

Half received a placebo or daily prenatal supplement of 600 milligrams of DHA for an average of 14.5 weeks – all before 20 weeks – from gestation to birth.

The main objective of the study was to measure cognitive development while blood pressure in the child was a planned secondary outcome.

The study involved 171 children whose blood pressure was measured longitudinally every six months from four years of age.

Overweight and obesity were badociated with expected arterial hypertension in the placebo group but not in the group whose mothers had been badigned to ADH.

Overweight and obese children in placebo mothers experienced a significant mean increase of 3.94 mm Hg for systolic BP and 4.97 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure compared to overweight / obese mothers of supplemented mothers. in DHA.

Dr. Carlson said, "The increase in blood pressure in obese or overweight children in the placebo group compared to the DHA group was significant (3.94 mmHg for PAS and 4.97 mmHg for DBP ) and statistically significant.

"Although we know that obesity or overweight was badociated with high blood pressure in adults and children, we did not badume that overweight or obese children as a group would benefit from intrauterine exposure to DHA.

"Prenatal exposure to DHA appears to protect the developing fetus from the effects of obesity on raising blood pressure in children."

And lowering blood pressure to six years could extend beyond childhood.

Dr. Carlson said: "It is known that blood pressure changes over time, so people who have high blood pressure early in life are more likely to have high blood pressure later in life. "

Carlson John Colombo, Associate Professor of Psychology, added, "This research is for pregnant women and pediatricians who are wondering what you can do before the birth of your child to maximize health and behavioral outcomes.

"There is a phenomenon called" development program "and researchers have studied the effects of the prenatal environment on long-term outcomes since the Second World War.

"The prenatal environment programs the metabolism of the fetus according to what can be expected in the postnatal environment.

"Part of the known effects of DHA could be programming heart function that preserves normal blood pressure in the event of high postnatal weight gain."

The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Posted in Daily Times, February 25th 2019.

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