|
 The study found virtually-identical rates of preterm delivery among
2,734 pregnancies where women were taking fish oil capsules daily
and among 2,752 pregnancies where the mothers-to-be were taking
vegetable oil capsules with only trace amounts of the n-3 long-chain
polyunsaturated fatty acids believed responsible for fish oil's
health benefits.
More babies in the fish oil group were very large for their age than
in the control group, but the researchers behind the study said that
finding might have been a statistical fluke.
"The bottom line is, blanket supplementation will not be effective.
It's not that simple," coauthor Karen Best, a research fellow at the
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in North
Adelaide told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.
Whether the supplements will help certain groups of women remains an
open question. "We need to know who may or not benefit. That's the
next step," she said.
The capsules were given out before the 20th week of pregnancy.
Babies born before the 35th week were considered preterm; such
babies account for most of the newborn deaths and childhood
disability seen in preemies.
Previous studies have shown that the less fish consumed during
pregnancy, the higher the rate of preterm delivery. The World Health
Organization already recommends that pregnant women consume 300 mg
of omega-3 fatty acids per day, but women in the U.S. typically
consume less than a third of that level.
Best said about 80% of pregnant women take some type of prenatal
vitamin product, many of which contain some degree of fish oil.
[to top of second column] |
The study, known as ORIP, had women in the fish oil group taking 900
mg daily of omega-3 fatty acids - contained in three 500-mg fish-oil
capsules - until their 34th week of pregnancy. The vegetable oil
placebo capsules looked identical. The researchers tried to use a
small amount of tuna oil to make the placebo capsules taste the same
as the fish oil capsules, but many volunteers said they could tell
which group they were in.
Early preterm delivery occurred in 2.2% of the fish oil pregnancies
and 2.0% of the vegetable oil pregnancies, an insignificant
difference, the study team reports in The New England Journal of
Medicine.
There was a 30% greater chance that a child born to a mother taking
fish oil would be very large for gestational age, although the
actual number of babies who fell into that category was small. The
rates were 5.2% in the fish oil group and 4.0% in the vegetable oil
group.
Although the fish oil babies tended to be larger, that did not
increase the risk of cesarean-section, the need for oxygen or other
complications during delivery, which Best said was good news.
The rates of miscarriage, preeclampsia and diabetes for the mother
were comparable in the two groups.
The most significant side effect: women taking the fish oil capsules
were more likely to report burping.
Best and her colleagues note that it's still possible fish oil might
benefit the babies of pregnant women who have low levels of omega-3
fatty acids.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2kznZug The New England Journal of Medicine,
online September 11, 2019.
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
