Lack of omega-3 may be neurological risk

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 10 (UPI) -- A diet of a lot of meat and not much fish resulting in an omega-3 deficiency may pose a risk to infant neurological development, a Canadian study found.

Principal investigator Dr. Sheila Innis of the University of British Columbia said that omega-3 fatty acids, unsaturated fats found in some fish such as salmon and herring and in smaller amounts in eggs and chicken, are important for the baby's developing eyes and brain.

For the study, 135 pregnant women were randomly assigned to a group that took an omega-3 fatty acid supplement or one that took a placebo. All the women continued eating their regular diets. The supplement added the equivalent of two fatty fish meals per week, an amount that the researchers estimated would prevent deficiency.

The researchers tested the women's blood samples at 16 and 36 weeks of pregnancy and measured the amount of docasohexaenoic acid, a type of omega-3 fatty acids that's known to be important for brain and eye function.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that the women who ate lots of meat and little fish were deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and their babies didn't do as well on eye tests as babies from mothers who weren't deficient.