Omega-3 pills could boost birth weight: Study

Writing in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition​, researchers from St John's National Academy of Health Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare report that a lack of fish consumption during the third trimester of pregnancy were at a 150 per cent increased risk of having a baby with low birth rate.

Furthermore, low intakes of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) were associated with a 175 per cent increase in the risk of having a baby with low birth weight.

The prospective cohort study followed 676 women from their first trimester until immediately after the birth of the child. The researchers note that fish consumption, and subsequently EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intakes, were low for all of the women studied.

“Supplementation with omega-3 LCPUFA during pregnancy may have important implications for foetal development in India,”​ concluded the researchers.