Do You Supplement With Fish Oil? Kids Also Should Have Fish Oil In Their Diet.

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Do You Supplement With Fish Oil? Kids Also Should Have Fish Oil In Their Diet.

Friday, December 25th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

For some years now science has understood the health benefits of omega 3 essential fatty acids. It is now clearly established that these benefits are equally important for the health of our children. Omega 3 fatty acids are just as important in the diet of our kids, or even more so, than in the diet of adults. And this requirement for omega 3 fats begins at conception.

You find Omega 3 essential fatty acids in fish oil. Kids are just like adults. They have a minimum requirement for levels of omega 3 in their diet to ensure adequate development and health. The importance of omega 3 in children has now been underscored by the release of a study from the University of Wollongong’s School Of Health Sciences in Australia. In this study it was found that Australian children were hugely deficient in omega 3. Children in the US will be no different.

In fact the study found that on average the intake of omega 3 fats in 3-year-olds was just 47 milligrams which the professor describes as “desperately low”.

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) are the 2 most important essential fatty acids found in fish oil known as Omega 3. Kids in the US, as well as Australia, have levels of these essential fatty acids that are way too low. The deficiency of omega 3 in children has a range of health implications for our kids.

A child’s requirement for omega 3 fats starts right at conception. The study noted that brain development was extremely fast during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and that for adequate brain development an adequate level of DHA was essential. And it also noted that the first 2 years of infancy was equally important for brain development and placed an equal demand on DHA levels.

A child cannot supplement its diet own with omega 3. Children have these decisions made for them by their parents. Parents should consider increasing their own intake of fish oil as well as increasing the amount of fish oil in children’s diets because their own health and the health of their kids depends on it.

It’s not just brain development that is affected by a child’s intake of Omega 3. Kids have a whole range of health and development issues which can benefit from an increased intake of fish oil. Inadequate levels of essential fatty acids can put them at a higher risk of asthma, poorer visual development, slower brain development, lower IQ as established on IQ tests, an increased incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and others.

Clearly there are serious issues involved when considering the supplementation of omega 3 in children. This can be achieved by increasing their intake of fish however there are various issues associated with this including mercury contamination, the price of fish and the well known dislike of fish by children.

I supplement the diet of my own children with omega 3 fish oil capsules. When they were too young to take capsules it was a simple matter to cut the top off the capsules and pour that fish oil on their breakfast. They don’t even know fish oil is there.

The decisions of parents about what their children eat are important ones affecting the development of their children. Omega 3 supplementation is cost effective and simple and is important right from the conception of the child. Even during breastfeeding omega 3 supplementation by mothers increases the amount of DHA available to the infant in the breastmilk.

However not all Omega 3 capsules are as good as others. There are many issues relating to the quantity of DHA present in the capsules, the freshness of the fish oil used, (fish oil oxidizes quickly) and the effectiveness of the fatty acids.

On my website I explain which omega 3 capsules I use for my own children (and myself). Visit my website to find out.

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