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. Now it is quite possible to buy DHA infant formula as well is many other DHA are supplemented baby foods 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. Along with EPA DHA is essential to so many aspects of our brain and heart health and it is now becoming established that an adequate supply of DHA to the growing fetus and to the baby once born is essential for optimum infant development.
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 event was a lecture given to doctors and nutritionists by a representative of baby food manufacturer who make a DHA baby formula. This event was one staged by representative of a manufacturer of a DHA baby formula and was a lecture. The lecture included some interesting information, particularly that residents of the US and Canada have some of the lowest levels of DHA of any country in the world. That’s because of our very low levels of fish intake.
And equally interesting was a statement that there are clear health benefits to infants and babies from getting a sufficient supply of DHA in their diet including. “cognitive development, improved visual acuity, memory retention and ability to communicate and solve problems as well as psychomotor development”. Clearly there are good reasons to ensure that a fetus or baby has a sufficient supply of DHA available to it.
But that doesn’t mean that there are significant benefits to using DHA infant formula. There’s many reasons why it is accepted that breastfeeding is better than using baby formula. If the mother’s supply of DHA is adequate then this becomes available to the baby through her milk.
This relies of course on the diet of the mother having an adequate intake of DHA
It isn’t clear yet what benefits there are to using DHA in baby 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”.
It is pretty clear that it is way too early to decide to use DHA infant formula to feed our babies. Provided the mother gets enough DHA in her diet the baby will get sufficient DHA in the milk.
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 sadly fish is contaminated with a range of toxins such as Mercury.
The best DHA supplements are entirely clean and are a very cost-effective way of getting an adequate daily supply of DHA. Note that not all DHA supplements are good value or good supplements.
If you’d like to find out where to source the very best DHA Supplements so that you can supply sufficient DHA your baby visit my website.
Want to know more about the health benefits of Omega 3 Supplements? Or more about the pros and cons of Infant Formula With DHA? Visit Peter’s Website Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oil.
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