How to prevent child abuse

Last Updated Aug 2007

I have often told expectant mothers that if they don't take highly purified fish oils during their pregnancy, they are basically committing child abuse. Now a recent article in Lancet confirms this. Researchers demonstrated that expectant mothers who consumed more than two to three servings of fish per week during pregnancy had 8-year-olds with better development skills (eye-hand coordination, communication skills, etc.) and higher IQs than children whose mothers ate less fish. Children whose mothers consumed no fish during pregnancy were 48 percent more likely to have low verbal IQ scores. Of course, this study says nothing about optimal levels of omega-3 fatty acids or the importance of having highly purified omega-3 fatty acid supplements to reduce the intake of toxins, such as mercury, PCBs, and dioxins found in all fish. Two to three servings of fish per week would provide about 1 gram of EPA and DHA per day. While that is a good start, I suggest that expectant mothers should be consuming 2.5 grams of ultra-refined EPA and DHA. Such ultra-refined EPA/DHA concentrates eliminate the fear of toxins and provide the necessary building blocks for the 250,000 new brain cells that are being produced each minute in the last trimester of pregnancy. However, after the birth of the child, the need for fish oil doesn't stop because the brain continues to grow, which means the child will continue to need fish oil to maintain brain development. If a mother isn't taking ultra-refined EPA/DHA concentrates during pregnancy or giving them to her child after pregnancy, then I can only say: "Child abuse."