Fish Oil–Derived Fatty Acids in Pregnancy and Wheeze and Asthma in Offspring
N Engl J Med 2016; 375:2530-2539 Dec 29, 2016DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1503734
Omega-3 during pregnancy reduced Asthma and Respiratory Tract Infections 3 years later in the children
Vitamin D during pregnancy provides somewhat less benefit (earlier studies)
Exepect that taking both Omega-3 and Vitamin D during and after pregnancy would be very beneficial
Note 1: Magnesium also helps
Note 2: Vitamin D receptor problems with Asthma (increase risk by 30%) can be dealt with
Note 3: Omega-3 during pregnancy has other benefits - such as 3X reduction in Stillbirth RCT
See also VitaminDWiki
- Vitamin D during pregnancy reduces risk of childhood asthma by 13 percent – meta-analysis Dec 2016
- Asthma in 3 year olds decreased somewhat with 4,000 IU during pregnancy – RCT Jan 2016
- Acute Lower Respiratory Infections in Children - associated with low vitamin D – meta-analysis Dec 2014
- Infant wheezing 40 percent less likely if mother supplemented with vitamin D, vitamin E, or Zinc – meta-analysis Aug 2015
- Childhood asthma about 1.3 times more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis Aug 2016
- Overview: Omega-3 many benefits include helping vitamin D
Omega-3 and Pregnancy (items in both categories)
- Should Omega-3 be mandatory in Pregnancy (yes) – July 2024
- Vitamin D and Omega-3 benefits to pregnancy and infants
- Omega-3 fatty acid in pregnancy reduces risk of preterm and early preterm birth – Feb 2024
- Omega-3 fatty acid in pregnancy reduces risk of preterm and early preterm birth – Feb 2024
- Stillbirth reduced by Vitamin D, Zinc, Omega-3 - several studies
- Preterm birth decreased by Omega-3, etc. - many studies
- Preterm birth reduction by nutrients - Vitamin D is the best, Omega-3 is next best – May 2022
- Omega-3 improves pregnancies – Meta-analysis May 2022
- Omega-3 supplementation reduced preterm birth rate by 4X – RCT July 2020
- Conception 1.5 X more likely if taking any amount of Omega-3 – Feb 2022
- Pre-term birth rate cut in half with 1000 milligrams of Omega-3 (if initially low) – RCT May 2021
- Omega-3 recommended in Australia during pregnancy - April 2021
- Pregnancy recommendations – huge differences in Vitamin D, Mg, iron, Iodine, DHA, etc – April 2021
- Seafood (Omega-3) during pregnancy increased childhood IQ by 8 points – review Dec 2019
- Pregnant women in Australia to take Omega-3 when told of reduction in preterm births – Dec 2019
- Fat-soluble vitamins critical for conception, pregnancy and breast feeding (pigs) – Sept 2019
- Preterm Births reduced by Omega-3, Zinc, and Vitamin D – Aug 2019
- Depression after childbirth 5 X less likely if good Omega-3 index – April 2019
- Infant Problem-Solving Skills Linked to Mother’s DHA Omega-3 Level During Pregnancy – April 2019
- Omega-3 during pregnancy and breastfeeding is recommended – May 2019
- Preterm Births decreased by Omega-3 (analysis of 184 countries) – April 2019
- Preterm Births - promising preventions – anti-oxidants, Vitamin D, Omega-3, Zinc, etc. – Jan 2019
- Preterm birth might be prevented by Vitamin D, Omega-3, etc. (International survey) – Jan 2019
- Omega-3 index of 5 greatly decreases the risk of an early preterm birth – Dec 2018
- Omega-3 added during pregnancy helps in many ways – Cochrane Review of RCTs Nov 2018
- Omega-3 helps conception as well as pregnancy – many studies
- More pregnancies and fewer abortions when Omega-3 was added (cows in this case) July 2018
- PCOS treated by a combination of Vitamin D and Omega-3 – RCT Oct 2018
- Omega-3 – fewer than 5 percent of adult women get the RDA – April 2018
- Omega-3, Vitamin D, Folic acid etc. during pregnancy and subsequent mental illness of child – March 2018
- Supplementation while pregnant and psychotic – 20 percent Omega-3, 6 percent Vitamin D – June 2016
- Importance of Vitamin D and fish rarely mentioned during midwife-led prenatal booking visits – July 2017
- Preterm birth rate of pregnant smokers cut in half if take Omega-3 – RCT May 2017
- Gestational diabetes treated by Vitamin D plus Omega-3 – RCT Feb 2017
- Asthma reduced 31 percent when Omega-3 taken during pregnancy – RCT Dec 2016
- Preterm births strongly related to Vitamin D, Vitamin D Receptor, Iodine, Omega-3, etc
- Typical pregnancy is now 39 weeks – Omega-3 and Vitamin D might restore it to full 40 weeks
- Omega-3 supplementation during pregnancy reduce early preterm births (save 1500 USD per child) – Aug 2016
- Rancid Omega-3 increased the odds of newborn mortality by 13 times (rats) – July 2016
- Preterm birth extended by 2 weeks with Omega-3 – Meta-analysis Nov 2015
- Stillbirth rate typically 1 in 200, perhaps only 1 in 800 with Omega-3
- Omega-3 helps pregnancy in many ways: preterm 26 percent less likely etc – review July 2012
- Pregnancy and infants healthier with Omega-3 supplementation - many studies
- Vitamin D, DHA, Folic, Iodine benefits during pregnancy – July 2012
Healthy pregnancies need lots of vitamin D has the following summary
Most were taking 2,000 to 7,000 IU daily for >50% of pregnancy
Click on hyperlinks for details
Problem | Vit. D Reduces | Evidence |
| 0. Chance of not conceiving | 3.4 times | Observe |
| 1. Miscarriage | 2.5 times | Observe |
| 2. Pre-eclampsia | 3.6 times | RCT |
| 3. Gestational Diabetes | 3 times | RCT |
| 4. Good 2nd trimester sleep quality | 3.5 times | Observe |
| 5. Premature birth | 2 times | RCT |
| 6. C-section - unplanned | 1.6 times | Observe |
| Stillbirth - OMEGA-3 | 4 times | RCT - Omega-3 |
| 7. Depression AFTER pregnancy | 1.4 times | RCT |
| 8. Small for Gestational Age | 1.6 times | meta-analysis |
| 9. Infant height, weight, head size within normal limits | RCT | |
| 10. Childhood Wheezing | 1.3 times | RCT |
| 11. Additional child is Autistic | 4 times | Intervention |
| 12.Young adult Multiple Sclerosis | 1.9 times | Observe |
| 13. Preeclampsia in young adult | 3.5 times | RCT |
| 14. Good motor skills @ age 3 | 1.4 times | Observe |
| 15. Childhood Mite allergy | 5 times | RCT |
| 16. Childhood Respiratory Tract visits | 2.5 times | RCT |
RCT = Randomized Controlled Trial
Free fuzzy image from the web
BACKGROUND
Reduced intake of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) may be a contributing factor to the increasing prevalence of wheezing disorders. We assessed the effect of supplementation with n-3 LCPUFAs in pregnant women on the risk of persistent wheeze and asthma in their offspring.
METHODS
We randomly assigned 736 pregnant women at 24 weeks of gestation to receive 2.4 g of n-3 LCPUFA (fish oil) or placebo (olive oil) per day. Their children formed the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood2010 (COPSAC2010) cohort and were followed prospectively with extensive clinical phenotyping. Neither the investigators nor the participants were aware of group assignments during follow-up for the first 3 years of the children’s lives, after which there was a 2-year follow-up period during which only the investigators were unaware of group assignments. The primary end point was persistent wheeze or asthma, and the secondary end points included lower respiratory tract infections, asthma exacerbations, eczema, and allergic sensitization.
RESULTS
A total of 695 children were included in the trial, and 95.5% completed the 3-year, double-blind follow-up period. The risk of persistent wheeze or asthma in the treatment group was 16.9%, versus 23.7% in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.49 to 0.97; P=0.035), corresponding to a relative reduction of 30.7%.
Prespecified subgroup analyses suggested that the effect was strongest in the children of women whose blood levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were in the lowest third of the trial population at randomization: 17.5% versus 34.1% (hazard ratio, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.25 to 0.83; P=0.011).
Analyses of secondary end points showed that supplementation with n-3 LCPUFA was associated with a reduced risk of infections of the lower respiratory tract (31.7% vs. 39.1%; hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.98; P=0.033), but there was no statistically significant association between supplementation and asthma exacerbations, eczema, or allergic sensitization.
CONCLUSIONS
Supplementation with n-3 LCPUFA in the third trimester of pregnancy reduced the absolute risk of persistent wheeze or asthma and infections of the lower respiratory tract in offspring by approximately 7 percentage points, or one third. (Funded by the Lundbeck Foundation and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00798226.)
PDF is behind $20 publisher paywall
New York Times Review of the Study
- “They recruited 736 women. Starting in their third trimester, half the women took 2.4 grams of fish oil a day and half took placebo capsules of olive oil, continuing until one week after birth.”
- “ About a quarter of the mothers and a fifth of the fathers had asthma, and they were evenly distributed between the fish-oil and placebo groups.”
- “ The capsules were an over-the-counter product called Incromega TG33/22, a fish extract made by the British chemical company Croda Health Care. The extract contained the fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).”