A 2018 Cochrane Review found that increasing the intake of omega-3 EFAs during pregnancy can reduce the risk of premature births, a leading cause of mortality for children aged 5 and younger worldwide (and accounting for one million deaths annually). Approximately 15 million babies are born prematurely each year, and those that are at higher risk of a range of long-term conditions including visual impairment, developmental delay and learning difficulties.

Associate Professor Philippa Middleton from Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and a team of Cochrane researchers investigated how premature births were impacted by consumption of omega-3 EFAs—particularly docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) found in fatty fish and fish oil supplements. The team analyzed 70 randomized trials and found that for pregnant women, increasing the daily intake of long-chain omega-3s:

• lowers the risk of having a premature baby (less than 37 weeks) by 11 percent (from 134 per 1000 to 119 per 1000 births)

• lowers the risk of having an early premature baby (less than 34 weeks) by 42 percent (from 46 per 1000 to 27 per 1000 births)

• reduces the risk of having a small baby (less than 2500g) by 10 percent.

“There are not many options for preventing premature birth, so these new findings are very important for pregnant women, babies and the health professionals who care for them,” Middleton said. “We don’t yet fully understand the causes of premature labor, so predicting and preventing early birth has always been a challenge. This is one of the reasons omega-3 supplementation in pregnancy is of such great interest to researchers around the world.”

A 2006 Cochrane Review concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to support the routine use of omega-3 EFA supplements during pregnancy. After a decade, however, this updated review concludes that there’s high quality evidence for omega-3 supplementation being an effective strategy for preventing preterm birth.

“Many pregnant women in the UK are already taking omega-3 supplements by personal choice rather than as a result of advice from health professionals,” said Associate Professor Middleton. “Our review found the optimum dose was a daily supplement containing between 500 and 1000 milligrams (mg) of long-chain omega-3 fats (containing at least 500mg of DHA) starting at 12 weeks of pregnancy.”

Reference:

Makrides, et al. “Fish oil and other prostaglandin precursor supplementation during pregnancy for reducing pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction.” Cochrane Review, 2018 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003402

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