A randomized controlled trial of the effect of fish oil supplementation in late pregnancy and early lactation on the n−3 fatty acid content in human breast milk

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of fish oil supplementation, in the third trimester of pregnancy and early lactation period of healthy pregnant Danish women. Forty-four pregnant women were randomly allocated to fish oil supplementation (1.3 g EPA and 0.9 g DHA per day) from week 30 of gestation (FO-group) or to a control regimen (olive oil or no oil; controls). The FO-group was randomly subdivided into women stopping fish oil supplementation at delivery IFO(pregn)], and women continuing supplementation for an additional 30 d [FO(pregn/lact)]. Thirty-six women agreed to collect milk samples at days 4, 16, and 30 postpartum. The FA composition of the milk samples was determined by GLC. At days 4, 16, and 30 in lactation, FO(pregn/lact) women (n = 12) had, respectively 2.3 (P = 0.001), 4.1 (P = 0.001), and 3.3 (P = 0.001) times higher mean contents of LCPUFA(n-3) in their breast milk compared with controls (n = 13), and 1.7 (P = 0.005), 2.8 (P = 0.001), and 2.8 (P = 0.001) times higher LCPUFA(n-3) contents, respectively, at these days compared with FO(pregn) women (n = 11). The latter group did not differ significantly from controls with regard to LCPUFA(n-3) content in the breast milk. Similar results were obtained when analyzing separately for effects on the milk content of DHA. Dietary supplementation with 2.7 g LCPUFA(n-3) per day from week 30 of gestation and onward more than tripled the LCPUFA(n-3) content in early breast milk; supplementation limited to pregnancy only was much less effective.

The Effects of Fish Oil Supplementation in Pregnancy on Breast Milk Fatty Acid Composition Over the Course of Lactation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…As anticipated, the increases in breast milk n-3 LCPUFA content were greatest in the first months of lactation and were seen without mothers continuing supplementation in the postnatal period. Our findings contrast with those of Boris et al (13) who noted that fish oil supplementation limited to pregnancy was not as effective as supplementation during both pregnancy and lactation and did not significantly increase n-3 LCPUFA content in breast milk compared with a control group. As also anticipated, we have confirmed that maternal n-3 LCPUFA status in late pregnancy is strongly correlated with n-3 LCPUFAs in breast milk for the first 6 wk of lactation.…”

“…previous studies were only short term (13) or used fish oil during lactation [with (14) or without (15) supplementation during pregnancy as well]. To our knowledge, this is the first study to document the effects of high-dose fish oil supplementation during pregnancy on longitudinal changes in breast milk fatty acid composition over the first 6 mo of lactation.…”

Supplementation with 200 mg/Day Docosahexaenoic Acid from Mid-Pregnancy through Lactation Improves the Docosahexaenoic Acid Status of Mothers with a Habitually Low Fish Intake and of Their Infants

“…In this study, the pregnant mothers had a relatively high educational level. Their RBC-DHA concentrations at baseline (21 weeks pregnant) were close to the values of women in Missouri/USA (gestational weeks [24][25][26][27][28], in Perth/Australia (gestational weeks 20), and twice as high as in an area of Scotland with a very low fish consumption (gestational weeks 15) [14,16,42] . The RBC-EPA values at baseline in our study fit to a moderately low habitual fish consumption of the participants.…”

Omega-3 Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids to Prevent Preterm Birth

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] No similar systematic reviews were found during the search process. Twenty RCTs were excluded for various reasons.…”