Fish oil doesn't benefit new moms, babies

Fish oil doesn't benefit new moms, 

babies

Babies with mothers who took fish oil while pregnant did not show above average mental development.

 Women who take fish-oil supplements during pregnancy are just as likely to experience postpartum depression as those who don't, and their babies' minds don't appear to develop more quickly, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

However, the supplements do appear to reduce the risk of preterm birth, a benefit seen in earlier studies.

Previous research has suggested that eating more fish during pregnancy may help stave off postpartum depression and promote cognitive development in young children.

Both fish and fish-oil supplements contain the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which is believed to play an important role in brain function.

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"It may be that there are certain other things about eating fish, not just the fish oil, that [are] beneficial," says Dr. Cheryl Cipriani, M.D., an infancy specialist and professor of medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center, in Dallas.

The overall diet -- or even the lifestyle -- of pregnant women who eat a lot of fish may explain the benefits seen in earlier studies, says Cipriani, who was not involved in the new research.

In the new study, the largest of its kind to date, researchers in Australia randomly assigned about 2,400 pregnant women to take 800 milligrams of DHA per day or placebo capsules containing vegetable oil.

 The rates of postpartum depression six months after the women gave birth were not measurably different in the DHA group (10 percent) versus the placebo group (11 percent).