Should You Be Using DHA Infant Formula For Your Baby Or Not?
Gradually there is a growing trend to DHA supplementation of food as science discovers more and more the benefits of omega 3 essential fatty acids to our health and to the health and development the growing fetus and baby. It is now possible to buy DHA infant formula and a range of other baby foods supplemented with DHA including baby cereal with DHA.
DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) is the most important of the omega 3 fatty acids that are now known to be so important to our health. EPA is also important and is another omega 3 fatty acid but DHA is essential to a whole range of health benefits to both our brain and heart and also becoming clear that the developing fetus or baby also requires an adequate supply of DHA.
But it’s another matter to decide whether using DHA Infant Formula is a good idea or not. But we can get a clue from a recent event. This was a lecture by a representative of a baby food manufacturer who are making a new DHA baby formula. One of the interesting pieces of information to come from the lecture was that residents of Canada and the US had some of the lowest levels of DHA of anyone in the world. This is due to our low level of fish intake.
And a further statement of interest was that clear benefits of adequate DHA intake were now established for babies and infants including benefits to “cognitive development, improved visual acuity, memory retention and ability to communicate and solve problems as well as psychomotor development”. From that statement you can see the importance of having an adequate supply of DHA available to the fetus and baby.
However there is another powerful reason to be sceptical about the benefits of DHA Baby Formula. There’s many reasons why it is accepted that breastfeeding is better than using baby formula. If there is a sufficient supply of DHA to the mother in her diet then this is also available to the baby through her milk.
Of course the mother must get sufficient DHA in her diet.
It is currently not clear what benefits there are from using DHA in infant formula. And in fact the representative of the infant formula company noted that “No infant formula can ever substitute breast milk. It will take years before anybody can tell us how to add the hormones in breast milk to infant formula”.
So it would seem that it is far too early conclude that we should all be feeding DHA baby formula to our babies. Except for mothers who have other reasons to avoid breastfeeding the baby will get enough DHA in the milk provided the mother get’s enough in her diet.
Of course it is always possible to get an adequate supply of DHA in our diet from increasing the amount of oily fish we eat. But fish is expensive and is also contaminated with contaminants like mercury.
The very best omega 3 DHA supplements are quite clean to take daily and are very cost-effective. But not all DHA supplements are good.
If you’re a mother more mother-to-be visit my website to find out where to source the very best DHA Supplements to ensure that your baby will have an adequate supply.
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