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Pregnant Women, Postpartum Women and Fish Oil

by kate baggott on January 4th, 2007

Nature Made Fish Oil Omega-3 Softgels, 1200 mg, 180-Count Bottles (Pack of 2)
If 2006 was the year of the prenatal vitamin, 2007 may be the year of fish oil capsules. An Australian study published in The Archives of Disease in Childhood, says that women who took fish oil for the second half of pregnancy, gave birth to children who performed better on hand-eye coordination skills tests than the control group participants who took an olive oil supplement. The research sample group was very small, reported the International Herald Tribune in their analysis of the study.

  • Scientists divided 98 women into two groups. Every day, beginning at 20 weeks of pregnancy and continuing until the women gave birth, one group took a daily dose of 4 grams of fish oil, while the other took 4 grams of olive oil. Neither the mothers nor the researchers knew which supplement the women had received until the study ended.
  • The researchers examined 72 children born to women who completed the study when the children were 2½ years old. In tests of locomotor ability, speech and hearing, vocabulary and practical reasoning, the children whose mothers were given fish oil during pregnancy scored slightly higher, but the differences were not statistically significant. But after controlling for maternal age, birth weight, breast- feeding and other factors, the children of the women who took fish oil were significantly better at hand-eye coordination than those of the women who took the olive oil supplement.

It isn’t only pregnant woment who should be taking fish oil supplements, says an article on Breastfeed.com. Fish and fish oil supplements contain docosahexaenoic acid, which is beneficial for infant brain development when passed to the child through breast milk.
“There is a lot of good evidence that DHA improves brain development in infants,” Luke R. Bucci, vice president of research at Weider Nutrition International told the web site. “Infants get DHA only from mother’s milk. When the mother eats a daily serving of fish with colored flesh, such as salmon, tuna, sardines or herring, to get enough DHA, or when she takes fish oil supplements, the benefits available to baby are optimized.”

The benefits of fish oils taken immediately after pregnancy and during breastfeeding helps to prevent and to treat postpartum depression. One summary of various studies published at ABC News put it best:

  • Scientists first became interested when they noticed that countries with the highest fish consumption had the lowest rates of depression. They also observed that mothers in England who ate very little fish during pregnancy doubled their risk of developing postpartum depression compared to women who ate fish regularly. So scientists began a series of studies to see why.

A daily supplement of fish oil, rather than a daily serving of fish, is generally recommended due to concerns about mercury stored in fish such as tuna, shark and makerel.

For women who have just given birth, supplements are certainly not complete protection against the dangers of sleeplessness, stress and poor nutrition, but they can be a mild insurance against those problems becoming more serious once the newborn period is over.

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POSTED IN: Breastfeeding, Emotional Wellbeing, Nutrition and recipes, Women's health, baby care

28 opinions for Pregnant Women, Postpartum Women and Fish Oil

  • Shani
    Jan 4, 2007 at 6:15 am

    For what it’s worth, my nutritionist advised stopping the fish oil a month before one’s due date. One of its beneficial effects is a slight blood-thinning, which can obviously be bad just before delivery. Once the danger of hemorrhage is past, you can start up again.

  • kellys
    Jan 4, 2007 at 11:41 am

    I wante dto be the good mommy and take my prenatals but every one I tried made me sick! So I am back to my Flinstones. At least I am taking something with Folic acid. I’ll work on the fish oil later. Great information, Kate.

  • Shani
    Jan 4, 2007 at 12:50 pm

    Kelly,

    Were you taking them on an empty stomach? With the amount of B vites and iron prenatals contain, they are a disaster unless you’ve got some food in you first. Do try and take them - prescription prenatals have far more folic acid than anything you can get OTC.

  • kbaggott
    Jan 4, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    Shani- Thanks for bringing up the slight blodd thinning! It wasn’t mentioned in the study, but of course, that’s why fish oils can be used to induce labour.

    Kelly- I agree with Shani, my secret was to take them with lunch and, to control nausea, ensure that you never, never get hungry while pregnant. One of the reasons that it might help to start taking prenatals before you’re even pregnant is that your system can adjust to them before it has to adjust to being pregnant.

  • Shani
    Jan 4, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    It’s recommended, actually, to start taking prenatals before becoming pregnant, since it’s the very early development that can be most impacted by that extra folic acid (or lack thereof).

  • kbaggott
    Jan 4, 2007 at 3:57 pm

    Shani- Yup. One of the posts linked to within this post is the recommendation that all women of child-bearing age take prenatal vits all the time because one half of all pregnancies are unplanned. They think it will cut birth defects by 50%.

  • Nature Moms Blog » Blog Archive » Women and Fish Oils
    Jan 5, 2007 at 12:43 pm

    […] Read more here. No Comments for the post: Women and Fish Oils […]

  • Kristen King
    Jan 6, 2007 at 12:45 pm

    I’ve been taking fish oil for a long time and have particularly noticed a difference in my hair and nails. I can practically see them growing! I’ve also noticed positive changes in mood.

    kk

  • Lori
    Jan 7, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    My ob/gyn even recommended taking fish oil to help with PMS, specifically to improve crankiness associated with my PMS.

  • kbaggott
    Jan 7, 2007 at 10:12 pm

    Lori- Thanks for the tip, I’m going to see if that will help me.

  • The #1 Fitness and Health Carnival! | Real Women’s Fitness
    Jan 8, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    […] Babylune has a post Pregnant Women and Fish Oil. […]

  • mamawell
    Jan 23, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    Interestingly, I have been reading about the importance of balancing the fatty acids. Dr. Dean Raffelock in his book “A Natural Guide to Pregnancy and Postpartum Health” recommends 1000mg of fish body oils (labeled pharmaceutical grade purity) that supply 150-300 mgs of DHA and 180-300 mgs of EPA per day. These are natural ratios in high-quality fish oil. He also recommends staying away from cod liver oil which is high in vitamin A and can build up toxic levels in your liver. Then for your omega 3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), he recommends a tablespoon of ground fresh flaxseed (you can mix it in smoothies, cereal or yogurt). He thinks flaxseed is better than the oil which can go rancid easily.

  • ratphooey
    Jan 24, 2007 at 5:40 am

    Flax oil can be great, however it’s contraindicated during pregnancy.

  • mamawell
    Jan 24, 2007 at 7:37 am

    Really? why?

  • ratphooey
    Jan 24, 2007 at 7:48 am

    Like soy, flax has estrogenic properties. You don’t want to overload on those while you’re pregnant. Eating a moderate amount of soy is probably okay, but daily? Or a daily supplement of flax? Not advisable.

  • kbaggott
    Jan 24, 2007 at 8:31 am

    That’s true Ratphooey, espcially if you are carrying a boy! Women with a family history of breast cancer or uterine cancers should also avoid flax oil. Whole seeds (not ground) on the other hand, are often used as a regularity aid and are the phyto estrogens aren’t absorbed.

    Still, while flax seed is popular among vegans in place of fish oils, it hasn’t yet been proven to be as effective against depression and, because of the reasons you indicated, it is unwise to take it during pregnancy.

  • Babylune - Top Five Ways to Prevent Postpartum Depression
    Jan 26, 2007 at 9:39 am

    […] 1. Keep taking your prenatal vitamins with a side order of a fish oil capsule. It’s effortless and acts as a kind of insurance when you aren’t paying close attention to your diet. B vitamins and Omega acids help keep all of our moods balanced. Technorati Tags: postpartum depression, ppd, preventing postpartum depression. […]

  • mamawell
    Jan 26, 2007 at 3:17 pm

    Thanks ladies for this information. I just found this article Fact Sheet released by Cornell Uni on Phytoestrogens and breastcancer (http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/FactSheet/Diet/fs1.phyto.cfm). Regarding what we are talking about they write:

    Pregnant or breast-feeding women should not use phytoestrogen supplements or consume substantial amounts of flaxseeds on a regular basis. In animal studies, the phytoestrogens found in high amounts in flaxseeds have been shown to cause developmental abnormalities and some studies of soy phytoestrogens have shown a possible increase in susceptibility to cancer in offspring. Eating moderate amounts of soy or flax products should present no problem. Women in China and Japan regularly eat foods containing soy phytoestrogens during pregnancy and while breast-feeding and no adverse health affects have been reported in these countries

  • kbaggott
    Jan 26, 2007 at 3:51 pm

    Mamawell- Actually, there are Japanese studies linking exposure to phytoestrogens (mostly in soy) to decreased male fertility. The studies were widely reported in the Western media last year.

  • mamawell
    Jan 26, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Thanks.

  • ratphooey
    Jan 26, 2007 at 5:12 pm

    The key is moderation. The classical Japanese diet uses soy as just one ingredient, whereas western vegetarians tend to rely on it for the bulk of their protein. A few pieces of tofu in a bowl of soup, or some soy sauce? Probably fine. But to consume larger quantities, day after day? A bad idea. Especially if you’re expecting a boy, and you want him to be able to create children one day.

    Another problematic source of estrogen is that leeched from some kinds of plastic, including that used in many baby bottles and reusable water bottles. This was a big topic of discussion at a recent public health conference held last year in Philadelphia (rescheduled from New Orleans after Katrina).

  • mamawell
    Jan 26, 2007 at 6:02 pm

    Yes that makes a lot of sense. Thanks Ratphooey.

  • Dr. Dean Raffelock
    Jan 28, 2007 at 11:01 am

    Just want to clarify that my book recommends flaxseeds, not oil, for postpartum women. However, flaxseeds contain lignans that help the body reduce the most harmful type of estrogen ( 16-hydroxy estrone). Flax has only a fraction of the phytoestrogenic qualities of soy and is in fact protective of an unhealthy estrogen dominance. Hope I am not breaking any site rules by coming on as a doc. Kate please contact me if you would like articles/info on our research on pregnancy recovery. Good site. it would be my pleasure! DR

  • kbaggott
    Jan 28, 2007 at 1:24 pm

    Hi Dean- We love experts and I would be happy to blog the research papers behind the clinical trials. Could you post the link to the peer-reviewed journal in which it appeared? As you can imagine, we get a lot of posts from people selling vitamins and these discussions are very, very involved.

  • ash
    Jul 9, 2007 at 11:32 am

    Wow, I’m glad I stumbled upon this site. I started out the pregnancy taking fish oils, but my body has been rejecting them in the last 8 weeks. Even though I’m at 20 weeks and the nausea is gone, I still find it much easier to just eat the Wild Salmon pure and simple.

    What ever happened to getting our nutrients from Wild and Organic foods all in moderation?

    Sounds like fish oil supplements are great for baby even started later in pregnancy and throughout breastfeeding. I prefer to eat the food!

  • kbaggott
    Jul 9, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    Hi Ash- I just read some very scary articles an organic farmer sent me about how our food is being depleted of minerals due to soil erosion and other environmental problems. Once I’ve checked the sources on those articles, I’ll be coming back with a series of posts about it.

    I *love* salmon and I love wild salmon more than any other fish. It is more expensive than the farmed varieties. While wild does come canned, it’s not as nice done that way and pregnant women have to be careful with their fish.

    If you’re buying the smaller whole fishes, you probably don’t have to worrry, but there have been a few studies lately telling pregnant women to avoid fish more than twice a month and the bigger fish like tuna, shark and swordfish altogether. I am afraid pollution has contaminated most of the fish we eat with mercury, which can harm your baby. The oil in fish supplements has been purified.

    If your body doesn’t like fish oil at the moment, you might like to try adding vegetarian omega 3s like whole flax seeds to your diet.

    In any case, it sounds like you are doing a wonderful job listening to what your body needs.

  • Babylune
    Aug 24, 2007 at 6:36 am

    […] has a different opinion about how to best take fish oil and other prenatal and postnatal vitamins. Readers of Babylune have some excellent advice if you’re feeling queasy in the comments on […]

  • Rich
    Feb 8, 2008 at 11:29 pm

    My wife is 13 weeks pregnant. She consumes 4-6 liters organic soy milk each month for the last 2 years. Would this quantity be considered too high?
    Seems like we need to reduce the quantity or stop altogether. What do you think?

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