Why to say algal oil DHA is more suitable for baby than fish oil DHA?

Why to say algal oil DHA is more suitable for baby than fish oil DHA?

Supplementation of DHA

As for the role of DHA, there is an expert consensus that DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) has definite benefits for brain and visual development in babies.

In addition, DHA has been mentioned in several studies as having more immune-boosting, sleep-promoting, and intelligence-enhancing effects than either.

However, a substance useful for human health, does not mean that a product containing this substance is useful, it depends on the usage and dosage.

It can be seen from the recommended intake of DHA for infants and young children that there is a slight difference between the recommended intake of DHA from different institutions. The recommendation of the Chinese nutrition society is that the appropriate daily intake (AI) for infants aged 0 to 3 is 100mg, which can basically meet the needs of visual function and brain development.

Special mention here is made of premature and low birth weight babies.

Because the fetus gets its DHA from the mother, premature and low-birth-weight babies are more likely to not get enough DHA, and typically have less mature brains and retinas.

According to the American academy of pediatrics, premature infants born under 1kg of weight should receive at least 21 milligrams of DHA per kg of body weight per day. Premature infants born under 1.5kg should receive at least 18 mg of DHA per kg of body weight per day. For example, a baby of 0.8kg needs at least 0.8*21=16.8mgDHA daily, and a baby of 1.2kg needs at least 1.2*18=21.6mgDHA daily. In addition, the European society for paediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition recommends a daily intake of 12 to 30mg/kg of DHA for premature infants.

If you don't want your baby to be born with a shortage of DHA, mothers may want to get the idea that they need to get enough (200mg/d) of DHA themselves, both to feed the fetus and to keep the level of DHA in their breast milk.

However, according to some nutritional studies, the daily intake of DHA for pregnant women in some areas is only 11.8~55.3mg, which is far from the recommended intake of 200mg for pregnant women. Therefore, to ensure the healthy development of the baby, the mother first needs to improve her diet structure, reasonable increase intake of food rich in DHA.

The source of DHA

Because the amount of DHA produced by a baby is very limited, the supply of DHA depends on foods, including breast milk. In general, there are generally four types of foods that can provide DHA to a baby, including breast milk, formula, complementary foods (food) and supplements.

1. Breast milk. Breast milk is rich in DHA, so it is the primary source of DHA for babies. Stupid dads refer to two data collected by the Chinese nutrition society: the average daily intake of DHA for babies from breast milk is 84mg or 110mg (depending on the region or stage).

Full-term baby, as long as the normal breastfeeding can basically meet the demand for DHA baby. But as mentioned above, nursing mothers need to pay attention to their diet.

3. Formula. Although DHA is not a mandatory ingredient in formula, it is now a standard ingredient in milk powder.

In the national standard, DHA has specified the specific amount of added requirements: the maximum amount of added must not exceed 0.5% of total fatty acids.

According to the European food safety authority, the proportion of DHA in milk powder must be 0.3 percent of total fatty acids to promote visual development.

That is to say, the amount of DHA added in milk powder, in 0.3%≥DHA≤0.5%, this interval is more appropriate. At 0.3 percent of total fatty acids, formula contains about 76.5mg of DHA per 100 grams. Assuming that the baby drinks 600mL of formula milk powder a day and 100mL of milk liquid is prepared for every 13g of milk powder, the daily intake of DHA is about 60mg, still some distance from the recommended amount of 100mg.

In the case of the majority of milk powder in the market, nearly two-thirds of milk powder does not meet the 0.3 percent threshold. For example, the highest content of royal fractine is 0.37%, 0.47% and 0.4% of DHA in the first three stages. If you drink 600ml milk every day, the intake is about 73.59mg, 93mg and 79.56mg. Although not quite the 100mg recommended by the European food safety agency, it is within the range recommended by the food and agriculture organization (FAO) (58 to 104mg/d).

In general, if your baby is drinking less than 0.3% DHA in milk powder, you can increase the amount of milk or you can choose some DHA supplements and add foods rich in DHA after 6 months. If it is more than 0.3%, no additional supplement is required.

4. Side food. Usually rice noodles, fruit puree such as DHA are less, some brands have added, but is not a common phenomenon, so here is the main concern under the food DHA content. Not many foods are rich in DHA, but mostly fish, especially in deep, cold waters, and some single-celled algae. After being able to add supplementary food, bao ma can properly use the above ingredients for cooking. Because the baby can not eat too much, so the supplement of DHA has certain limitations, but for the treasure mother, the consumption is much larger than the baby, breast mother itself can adjust the diet according to this table, can increase the amount of DHA is considerable.

In addition, egg products such as eggs or egg yolks and vegetable oils such as walnut oil and flaxseed oil do not contain DHA, but these foods contain part of linolenic acid, which can be converted into DHA in the body, but the conversion rate in the baby is relatively low, which cannot meet the baby's needs.

5. DHA supplements. Fish oil and algal oil are both supplements rich in DHA, and there are many products on the market specifically for babies and mothers. The general advice is that dietary supplements are better than supplements, and that fish with high levels of DHA is a good source of protein and delicious, but the problem is that babies are too young to eat much fish, so taking DHA supplements, or DHA supplements, can only be a major option.

As for fish oil or algal oil, which one should you choose?

Algal oil and fish oil which is more suitable for baby?

Algae is rich in DHA, and fish that eat algae also have more DHA, so both algal oil and fish oil are relatively high in DHA. However, it is recommended that your baby choose algal oil. Why do you say that?

1. Algal oil DHA has a higher absorption rate.

The structure of DHA comes in two forms, triglyceride and ethyl ester. Human studies have shown that the absorption rate of triglyceride - shaped DHA in humans is three times higher than that of ethyl - ester - shaped DHA.

Fish oil itself contains DHA in the form of triglyceride, but the amount is only 12%, which is far from sufficient, so some chemical modification is made to increase the amount of DHA but also change the form of DHA, so most fish oil contains DHA in the form of ethyl ester.

Algal oil's DHA is also triglyceride - shaped, but at a higher level, up to 35 percent, it does not require esterification and retains its triglyceride - shaped structure.

2. Fish oil has more cholesterol.

Because fish oil belongs to animal fat, animal fat basically contains cholesterol, too much cholesterol will increase the baby blood viscosity, adverse to baby health. By contrast, algal oil is made from algae, which are cholesterol-free, so it has a health advantage over fish oil.

3. High risk of heavy metals in fish oil.

Algae are upstream of food refining and fish are downstream of food refining, so fish oil has a higher risk of accumulating heavy metals, especially mercury and cadmium. In addition, microalgae, the raw material of algal oil, are mostly artificially cultivated.

Still, there is much debate about whether algal oil is better than fish oil, with the main focus being on the amount and proportion of EPA.

Can EPA in fish oil be harmful?

Fish oil producers will say that fish oil actually contains EPA and that the ratio of DHA to EPA is equal to or similar to that of breast milk (e.g., 4-5:1, 3:1, etc.).

The companies that sell algal oil say EPA is bad for babies, and their algal oil doesn't contain EPA.

So who's kidding?

First, look at the proportion of DHA and EPA in breast milk.

It should be noted that the ratio of DHA to EPA mentioned in the advertisement is 4~5:1, which is only based on individual literature research data, not official authoritative data like Chinese nutrition society or WHO. The sample size is small and the credibility is not high. Moreover, many literatures have also studied the fatty acids in breast milk, and the ratio of DHA to EPA is at least 8:1. But to be sure, breast milk contains very little EPA.

In addition, according to the report of the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations/world health organization expert committee, the minimum ratio of DHA to EPA in fish oil added to milk powder should be 10:1 to prevent EPA overdose.

So, to say that the DHA and EPA ratio of fish oil is more consistent with breast milk is basically a lie.

2. Then let's see if EPA is harmful to the baby's health.

In 2001, the FDA of the United States believed that EPA could replace arachidonic acid (ARA) in cell membrane, reduce the absorption of ARA by infants, and thus retard the growth of neonates.

In 2004, the British food standards commission believed that the retarded effect of fish oil added to milk powder on infant growth was mainly caused by the high content of EPA and low content of ARA in milk powder.

From this point of view, the higher concentration of EPA will affect the growth and development of the baby, which the manufacturer of selling algal oil is half right, because it does not mean that containing EPA is harmful to the baby, baby development still needs a small amount of EPA involved.

What is the highest concentration of EPA? Regular fish oils, such as those used by adults, have higher levels of EPA than DHA, and are still high even for babies.

3. Finally, is it better to use algal oil without EPA?

According to the above analysis, bao ma can choose algae oil with low or no EPA as much as possible. However, not all algal oil contains no EPA, because naturally growing algae actually contain more or less EPA. It is doubtful that algae oil contains no EPA at all.