12:37 AM
ade nganthok
Women who take fish-oil supplements during pregnancy are just as likely to experience postpartum depression as those who don’t, and their babies’ minds don’t appear to develop more quickly, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
However, the supplements do appear to reduce the risk of preterm birth, a benefit seen in earlier studies.
Previous research has suggested that eating more fish during pregnancy may help stave off postpartum depression and promote cognitive development in young children. Both fish and fish-oil supplements contain the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which is believed to play an important role in brain function.
“It may be that there are certain other things about eating fish, not just the fish oil, that [are] beneficial,” says Cheryl Cipriani, MD, an infancy specialist and professor of medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, in Temple. The overall diet—or even the lifestyle—of pregnant women who eat a lot of fish may explain the benefits seen in earlier studies, says Dr. Cipriani, who was not involved in the new research.
