
From the beginning of pregnancy, mothers have been worried about supplementing nutrition for their babies. DHA is the gold of the brain, and mothers have become the focus of attention for their babies to be smarter and healthier.
When is the best time to supplement DHA during pregnancy? How long after the baby is born should I start supplementing? I heard that eating fish can supplement, how much fish can achieve the effect? There are so many DHA supplement products on the market, how to choose? Fish oil DHA has a strong taste, what should I do if I have aversion to the fishy smell?
Regarding DHA supplementation, mothers still have many questions to be answered. Let's talk about DHA today.
What is DHA?
DHA is an unsaturated fatty acid. It is the fatty acid with the highest content in the human brain, nerve tissue, and retina. Supplementing DHA is beneficial to the development of the baby's brain and vision. Maintaining an appropriate DHA level in the body is beneficial to the early development of infants' nerves and visual functions. Therefore, DHA should be supplemented, which is good for both expectant mothers and babies! ! !
How to supplement DHA?
The Nutrition Society recommends that pregnant women and nursing mothers take no less than 200 mg of DHA per day. They can eat 2-3 meals of fish per week, and at least 1 meal should be high-fat marine fish, and eat 1 egg per day to meet the DHA needs.
Choose high-quality, pollution-free fish, such as Spanish mackerel, salmon, sea bass, golden pomfret, yellow croaker, and saury.
It is best not to eat sharks, tilefish, and other fish with high mercury content.
How much fish should be eaten to reach the standard intake? Therefore, it is difficult to control the amount by eating fish.
Suffering from not liking to eat fish at all or having strong morning sickness, many mothers have begun to try DHA supplements.
There are two main types of products on the market according to their sources, one is fish oil DHA and the other is algae oil DHA.
What is fish oil DHA?
Fish oil DHA comes from the extraction of deep-sea fish oil and is extracted from fish fat. In the deteriorating marine environment, it has a high EPA content and contains a variety of heavy metals and irritants. It is not suitable for children or people with a history of heart disease.
In addition, fish oil DHA has a strong fishy smell and is not suitable for mothers with severe morning sickness.
To solve this problem, fish oil DHA is prepared in the form of soft capsules, and gelatin, an additive, has to be introduced into the ingredient list.
DHA soft capsules vary in size. Large capsules can cause throat cracking and difficulty in swallowing. In addition, it is inconvenient to tear them by hand and can also cause hygiene problems.
Algae oil DHA drops have become the "new favorite" for DHA supplementation due to their higher purity, EPA-free, and easy-to-control dosage.
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