Re: EFA's and pregnancy

[Guest guest]

Bridget,

my only concern would be to make sure they are pure and do not have mercury and

other containments. Doctors often will not give an opinion on natural things

because they have nothing to back them up if something does happen. We use to

have a naturopath (sp?) that worked in our doctors office and that was great to

ask about things to use and not use so if you could find one of them that would

give you a good view.

Robyn

[ ] EFA's and pregnancy

Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

during pregnancy? I mentioned it to my ob, but he

won't give me " permission " to use them only because of

a lack of studies done on the side effects, etc. He

won't discuss any natural supplements past that. So,

if I would like guidance where would I go? I can't

imagine any reason they would be harmful, but I

thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything. I would

just like to my next baby the best chance possible of

developing speech normally.

Thanks!!

Bridget

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Bridget,

In " Superimmunity for Kids, " Dr Galland, the author, has a chapter dedicated to

nutrition while pregnant. He recommends pregnant women take either flaxseed oil

or

fish oil capsules. So, that's at least one medical doctor " for it " . Dr. Stordy,

in

" The LCP Solution " also recommends LCP supplementation.

Barbara

Bridget Kirk wrote:

>

> Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

> during pregnancy? I mentioned it to my ob, but he

> won't give me " permission " to use them only because of

> a lack of studies done on the side effects, etc. He

> won't discuss any natural supplements past that. So,

> if I would like guidance where would I go? I can't

> imagine any reason they would be harmful, but I

> thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything. I would

> just like to my next baby the best chance possible of

> developing speech normally.

>

> Thanks!!

> Bridget

>

>

> __________________________________________________

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for telling me about the book. I

just might run out to the bookstore today and try to

find it.

Thanks!! Bridget

> Bridget,

> In " Superimmunity for Kids, " Dr Galland, the author,

> has a chapter dedicated to

> nutrition while pregnant. He recommends pregnant

> women take either flaxseed oil or

> fish oil capsules. So, that's at least one medical

> doctor " for it " . Dr. Stordy, in

> " The LCP Solution " also recommends LCP

> supplementation.

> Barbara

>

> Bridget Kirk wrote:

>

> >

> > Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

> > during pregnancy? I mentioned it to my ob, but he

> > won't give me " permission " to use them only

> because of

> > a lack of studies done on the side effects, etc.

> He

> > won't discuss any natural supplements past that.

[Guest guest]

Bridget:

The only place I can think of to ask is Dr. Stordy.

She's a British doctor who wrote " The LCP Solution " Go

to her website www.askdrstordy.com to ask her your

question.

Let us know what you find out.

Martha in MA

--- Bridget Kirk <kaelismommy@...> wrote:

>

> Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

> during pregnancy? >

> Thanks!!

> Bridget

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Martha and everyone,

Actually -there is quite a bit of research going on behind the scenes

on pregnancy and EFAs-by all kinds of MDs, PhDs, and MD PhDs. The

secret is don't put EFA into the search engines or you get all the

parent friendly -or commercial sites for the most part. Put in the

words " PUFA pregnancy " or things like that and see what you come up

with! Here is just one of the interesting articles that I read -and

there are many more. The more I learn about EFAs -the more I wish I

knew about this before I was pregnant. Mark my words -in the future

they will be having us take Omegas during pregnancy just like they do

Folic Acid (imagine if you went to your doctor about Folic Acid

before everyone knew how good it was! -some freak out over fish oil,

just the words - " folic acid " !!) (Oh and Dr. Stordy's answer on this is post #

6333)

Birth order, pregnancies, and cognitive development

Gale and Martyn showed recently1 that early breastfeeding was

associated with higher IQ scores at 60-70 years of age than

bottlefeeding. However, this association did not persist after

adjustment for certain socio-economic factors concerning the

parents. The authors concluded that the mechanisms that link type of

feeding with later intelligence may have more to do with the child's

social environment than with the nutritional qualities of the milk.

In a commentary in the Lancet2 Feldman and Feldman even concluded

that " intelligent, loving and caring mothers are likely to have

intelligent children, irrespective of how they choose to feed their

babies " . They thus reject current views that long-chain, highly

unsaturated essential fatty acids (LCP), as present in human milk but

not in " classical " formulas, may be of importance in early cognitive

development.

The number of older siblings can have a significant negative impact

on later IQ, according to Gale and Martyn, when addressed as a socio-

economic entity.. Compelling evidence is also emerging that " birth

order " may be important in determining the LCP status of

newborns. This seems to hold particularly for docosahexaenoic acid

(DHA), the most prominent LCP in the central nervous system.

In a cross-sectional study comprising 244 normal term singleton

neonates, Al and coworkers3 recently observed a significant negative

relationship between the levels of DHA in cord artery and vein

vessel wall phospholipids and the number (0-6) of older siblings.

Carlson and coworkers4 also found a significant negative association

between birth order and the neonatal DHA status, as reflected by the

relative DHA content of red blood cell phosphatidylethanolamine from

preterm infants.

Al and coworkers also found a significant negative relationship

between pregnancy number (1-7) and the absolute and relative amounts

of DHA in maternal plasma phospholipids during pregnancy Since

pregnancy is associated with a progressive decrease of the maternal

DHA status5, these findings indicate that the habitual consumption

of DHA and of its precursors is too low for maternal levels to

have recovered completely before another pregnancy occurs.

The DHA status of infants has been shown to be associated with

various functional aspects of their central nervous system6. In

addition, scores on cognitive development appeared higher as sibling

order was lower7 . Therefore, we feel that discussions with respect

to the possible impact of breast or bottlefeeding on cognitive

development should also focus on the nutritional quality of

breastmilk and formula, and on the types and amounts of their long-

chain, highly unsaturated essential fatty acids in particular.

G.Hornstra,MD

Department of Human Biology

Limburg University

Maastricht, Netherlands

References

1. Gale CR, Martyn CN. Breastfeeding, dummy use, and adult

intelligence. Lancet 1996;347:1072-5.

2. Feldman W, Feldman ME. The intelligence on infant feeding.

Lancet1996;347:1057.

3. Al MDM, Houwelingen AC van, Hornstra G. Relation between birth

order and the maternal and neonatal docosahexaenoic acid status. Eur

J Clin Nutr 1997; in press.

4. Carlson SE, Salem N. Essentiality of omega-3 fatty acids in growth

and development of infants. In: Simopoulos AP, Kifer RR, RE,

Barlow SM, eds. Health effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

in seafoods. World Rev Nutr Diet 1991;66:74-86.

5. Al MDM, Houwelingen AC van, Kester ADM, Hasaart THM, Jong EP de,

Hornstra G. Maternal essential fatty acid patterns during normal

pregnancy and their relationship to the neonatal essential fatty acid

status. Brit J Nutr 1995;74:55-68.

6. Makrides M, Neumann M, Simmer K, Pater J, Gibson R. Are long-chain

polyunsaturated fatty acids essential nutrients in infancy?

Lancet1995;345: 1463-68.

7. Rogan WJ, Gladen BC. Breast feeding and cognitive development.

Early Hum Dev 1993;31:181-93.

EFA status of infants born after multiple pregnancies

The EFA status of full-term infants born after an uneventful,

singleton pregnancy has been reported to be marginal. If this low EFA

status is a consequence of a limiting maternal EFA supply, the higher

total fetal EFA demand associated with a multiple pregnancy would

result in an even lower EFA status of the infants born after a

multiple pregnancy. Therefore to investigate this hypothesis,

Magritha Foreman-van Drongelen* and colleagues at the University of

Limburg performed a study to compare the EFA status at birth of 30

pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 1 set of quintuplets with

that of 94 infants born after a singleton pregnancy. EFA profiles of

the umbilical vessel walls, considered to be a longer-term reflection

of the fetal EFA status, were measured. After correction for

gestational age at birth, levels of n-6 and n-3 EFAs were lower,

while levels of EFA-deficiency were significantly higher, both in the

draining umbilical arteries and the supplying veins of infants born

after a multiple pregnancy. EFA profiles were similar for twins and

triplets, but the average EFA status for the quintuplets was lower

than that of twins and triplets.

In conclusion, the observation that the EFA status of infants born

after a multiple pregnancy is lower than that of infants born after a

singleton pregnancy supports the view that the maternal EFA supply to

the fetus is limiting, and indicates that pregnant women have

difficulty coping with the EFA demands of multiple developing and

growing fetuses. Considering the importance of EFAs and their LCPs

for proper growth and development, this finding warrants further

studies of the adequacy of maternal EFA intake during pregnancy.

* Foreman-v. Drongelen, M. et al. Early Hum Dev (1996); 46: 205-

215

http://www.medev.ch/pufa/pufa9706.htm

=====

[Guest guest]

Talk to a naturalpath...they would know. ;-)

[ ] EFA's and pregnancy

Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

during pregnancy? I mentioned it to my ob, but he

won't give me " permission " to use them only because of

a lack of studies done on the side effects, etc. He

won't discuss any natural supplements past that. So,

if I would like guidance where would I go? I can't

imagine any reason they would be harmful, but I

thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything. I would

just like to my next baby the best chance possible of

developing speech normally.

Thanks!!

Bridget

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Might also want to find a different OB/GYN.

--- Tammy Sowell <Tammy_S68@...> wrote:

> Talk to a naturalpath...they would know. ;-)

>

> [ ] EFA's and pregnancy

>

>

> Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

> during pregnancy? I mentioned it to my ob, but he

> won't give me " permission " to use them only because

> of

> a lack of studies done on the side effects, etc. He

> won't discuss any natural supplements past that.

> So,

> if I would like guidance where would I go? I can't

> imagine any reason they would be harmful, but I

> thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything. I would

> just like to my next baby the best chance possible

> of

> developing speech normally.

>

> Thanks!!

> Bridget

[Guest guest]

There is a whole chapter in the book SuperImmunity for kids by Leo

Gallan, MD on nutrition during pregnancy, including EFA's. He

recommends EFA's daily. " 1-2 tablespoons of food-grade flaxseed oil

per day. To maximize absorption, take right before or after a meal.

Or Three to six 1 gram capsules of fish oil extract per day. " page

44. The book is great I wish I would of read while I was pregnant.

Carole

-- In @y..., Bridget Kirk <kaelismommy@y...> wrote:

>

> Is anyone aware of any reasons NOT to take EFA's

> during pregnancy? I mentioned it to my ob, but he

> won't give me " permission " to use them only because of

> a lack of studies done on the side effects, etc. He

> won't discuss any natural supplements past that. So,

> if I would like guidance where would I go? I can't

> imagine any reason they would be harmful, but I

> thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything. I would

> just like to my next baby the best chance possible of

> developing speech normally.

>

> Thanks!!

> Bridget

>

>

> __________________________________________________

>