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Do You Supplement With Fish Oil? Kids Also Should Have Fish Oil In Their Diet.
For some years now science has understood the health benefits of omega 3 essential fatty acids. It is now clearly established that these benefits are equally important for the health of our children. Omega 3 fatty acids are just as important in the diet of our kids, or even more so, than in the diet of adults. And this requirement for omega 3 fats begins at conception.
Omega 3 essential fatty acids are primarily found in fish oil. Kids, like adults, have a minimum requirement for levels of omega 3 essential fats in their bodies for proper and healthy development. This has now been emphasised by a new study from the University of Wollongong’s School Of Health Sciences in Australia which has concluded that Australian children are highly deficient in omega 3. Children in America and the rest of the developed world will be the same.
In this study it was found that 3 year old children had an average intake of omega 3 essential fats of 47 milligrams and the professor who undertook the study described this intake as “desperately low”.
There are 2 very important essential fatty acids found in fish oil called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). These are the fatty acids known as Omega 3. Kids in the US and Australia have way too little of these essential fats in their diet. This inadequate intake of omega 3 in children has health implications for the healthy development of our kids.
The study noted that the demands of omega 3 in children starts at conception and that brain development during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy required a high level of DHA to be available. Equally brain development during the first 2 years of infancy also required adequate levels of Omega3 fats. Kids need omega 3 for adequate brain development and do not have enough.
Children are unable to supplement their diets. This is a decision made by their parents. Parents ought seriously consider increasing their own intake of Omega3 fats as well as increasing the intake in their children of fish oil. Kids health depends upon the decisions made by their parents.
It’s not just brain development that is affected by a child’s intake of Omega 3. Kids have a whole range of health and development issues which can benefit from an increased intake of fish oil. Inadequate levels of essential fatty acids can put them at a higher risk of asthma, poorer visual development, slower brain development, lower IQ as established on IQ tests, an increased incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and others.
It is quite clear that there are important health issues involved when we consider dietary supplementation of omega 3 in children. It is possible to increase children’s fish oil intake by increasing their intake of fish however fish can be contaminated with mercury and other contaminants, is expensive and is generally not liked by children.
I have been supplementing the diet of my children with omega 3 cost effectively and simply. I use the best Omega 3 capsules (which I take myself) and cut the top off and pour the fish oil onto their breakfast and they are unaware it is there.
The decisions that parents make about the diet of their children affects the healthy development of their children. Omega 3 supplementation is simple, cost-effective and should be started by the mother from the beginning of pregnancy. Omega 3 supplementation in the mother even increases the levels of DHA in her breastmilk which in turn increases the level of Omega3 in infants who are breastfeeding.
Not all fish oil capsules are the same quality and you need to understand that there are differences between them in the freshness of the fish oil used, the amount of DHA present in the capsules and the effectiveness of the essential fats.
To find out which Omega 3 capsules I give to my own children and take myself visit my website.