Taking fish oil during pregnancy may lower child's asthma risk

Taking supplements of omega-3 fatty acids found in cold water fish during pregnancy may reduce the risk of asthma in the child by almost one third, a new study has claimed.

Researchers found that women who were prescribed 2.4 grams of long-chain omega-3 supplements during the third trimester of pregnancy reduced their children's risk of asthma by 31 per cent.

Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, which include eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are found in cold water fish, and are key to regulating human immune response.

"We have long suspected there was a link between the anti-inflammatory properties of long-chain omega-3 fats, the low intakes of omega-3 in Western diets and the rising rates of childhood asthma," said Professor Hans Bisgaard of Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC) in Denmark.
 

"This study proves that they are definitively and significantly related," said Bisgaard.

The study used rapid analytical techniques developed and performed at the University of Waterloo in Canada to measure levels of EPA and DHA in pregnant women's blood.

"Measuring the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in blood provides an accurate and precise assessment of nutrient status," said Ken Stark, professor at Waterloo, who led the testing.

The testing also revealed that women with low blood levels of EPA and DHA at the beginning of the study benefited the most from the supplements.

For these women, it reduced their children's relative risk of developing asthma by 54 per cent.

"The proportion of women with low EPA and DHA in their blood is even higher in Canada and the United States as compared with Denmark. So we would expect an even greater reduction in risk among North American populations," said Stark.

"Identifying these women and providing them with supplements should be considered a front-line defence to reduce and prevent childhood asthma," Stark added.

Researchers analysed blood samples of 695 Danish women at 24 weeks' gestation and one week after delivery.

They then monitored the health status of each participating child for five years, which is the age asthma symptoms can be clinically established.

"Asthma and wheezing disorders have more than doubled in Western countries in recent decades. We now have a preventative measure to help bring those numbers down," said Bisgaard.

Currently, one out of five young children suffer from asthma or a related disorder before school age.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.