In a research paper authored by OmegaQuant’s Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson, there was a focus on two main studies. One looked at blood levels of women who had a full term pregnancy or those who had early preterm birth (giving birth before 34 weeks). In this study, they found that those who had higher omega-3s in their blood had a lower risk of being an early preterm birth case. At around 5% DHA in the blood you start to see that risk decrease and continue to lessen with an increase in blood DHA level. On the other hand, below 5% there is an extremely steep risk curve for early preterm birth. For example, those with a 3% DHA level were 10x more likely to have a preterm birth than those above 5%. So being 5% and above is the main goal. Getting women who are low and above 5% could help them avoid premature birth. Another important study Dr. Jackson and her colleagues looked at in establishing the rationale for the Prenatal DHA Test was a meta-analysis of 70 studies in pregnancy where one group was given a fish oil during pregnancy and the other a placebo. When all of these studies were pooled together, they found a very strong effect on preterm and early preterm birth risk. Those taking fish oil had a reduced risk of 11% and 42% for preterm and early preterm birth, respectively. They also found that taking fish oil — even at high doses — was safe for mom and baby during pregnancy. Both of these studies together supported the need for having a simple, safe blood test for measuring DHA. This way women could know what that level is and adjust safely as needed to lower their risk for preterm birth.
Here is a helpful blog post.
Here is a helpful video.
