Choosing a vegetarian lifestyle is a choice that has the potential to bring a plethora of benefits to vegetarians if they make the right choices. Since there are essential nutrients usually found in meat and fish that have to be supplemented, vegetarians must remain informed about new nutritional options. For vegetarian mothers who are breastfeeding, the development of their babies depends on finding an adequate source of omega-3 fatty acids. Because vegetarian mothers don’t consume oily fish or fish oil, the main sources for omega-3 fatty acids in non-vegetarian diets, it’s important for parents to find a supplement that adequately compensates for the absence of these nutrients in the daily diet such as V-Pure omega-3 Vegetarian EPA & DHA. In order to make an informed decision about the best nutritional options, all the facts about the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on the body and how they work must be considered.

What Parents Should Know About DHA

In order to fully understand the importance of choosing the right omega-3 fatty acid supplement, it is necessary to understand how crucial a role these nutrients work to maintain health. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is one of the most important fatty acids in the body. It makes up 40% of the fatty acids found in the brain and 60% of the fatty acids found in the retina, which is why it is so crucial for thought processes and maintaining healthy vision, and why parents should ensure that the body has enough of it. DHA is also one of the building blocks of neural cells, supporting mental faculties on a cellular level. In infants and fetuses, the addition of DHA to formula has been shown to improve cognitive function and improve macular development. The benefits of DHA do not only extend to infants and fetuses. In pregnant women, DHA has been linked to improved eyesight and attention. The fatty acid also has the potential to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease for adults, and improve overall cardiovascular health, and is used in treatment of type II diabetes.

It is clear that DHA is essential to brain and eye function, and the risks of not having enough DHA in the body are just as clear. DHA deficiency has been linked to hindered brain and eye development in babies and children, as well as decreased brain function. In adults, DHA deficiency has been connected with low visual acuity and poor retinal development. Low levels of DHA have also been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and other diseases. These risks serve to punctuate the importance of finding a vegetarian supplement that supplies breastfeeding mothers’ bodies with sufficient DHA to fulfill both the nutritional requirements of both the mother and the child.

The Right Nutrition From the Right Sources

While most sources claim the solution to the problem of getting enough DHA in a vegetarian diet is flax seed oil, a new study brings evidence to light that may make vegetarian parents reconsider the ways in which they obtain the optimum level of nutrients, particularly while breastfeeding. While flax seed oil does provide a-Linolenic acid (ALA), another important fatty acid, the new study, published earlier this year in the Prostaglandis, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids journal shows evidence that the consumption of flax seed oil may not provide an adequate source of DHA for children who breastfeed because it does not provide vegetarian women with preformed DHA, and instead provides elements of DHA that the body must first process. Flax seed oil only provides the body with linoleic acid, which can be used by the body to form a limited amount of DHA, but is not as effective as the consumption of DHA that is already formed. Therefore, the levels of the nutrient that are transferred to the fetus while in the womb and to infants while breastfeeding are not comparable to the levels achieved by consuming preformed DHA like that contained in V-Pure. While the consumption of ALA is necessary for the body to function, additional ALA, like that contained in flax seed oil, provides minimal benefits.

The formation of DHA begins with ALA, which then is converted into Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), another omega-3 acid utilized by the body in mental function. EPA deficiency has also been linked to depression. The EPA that the body receives, then, is used up for these functions and the body forms DHA from the portion of EPA that is left. This means that the body uses some of the ALA consumed, after which it uses part of the EPA produced by the ALA, and finally, the EPA that is not reserved for use by the body is turned into DHA. At the end of this process, the human body is left with some DHA. According to new information, the body’s demand, and particularly breastfeeding babies’ demand for DHA exceeds the supply provided by the mother’s consumption of ALA. The end result of this is that the body needs more than just flax seed oil to meet the need. This new information provided by researchers from various research centers and universities has shown that the level of ALA provided by flax seed oil has been proven to provide insufficient DHA for a breastfeeding woman to transfer the optimum amount of this essential fatty acid to their child through breast milk.

The team of scientists conducting a new study, which includes Dr. J. Thomas Brenna, Professor of Human Nutritional Science at Cornell University, and former National Institutes of Health researcher, Dr. Norman Salem, Jr., conclude in the study that in order to increase the blood DHA status in infants and mothers, it is necessary for the mother to consume dietary supplements containing preformed DHA. They also note that consumption of ALA and EPA, while helpful to the formation of DHA in the body, cannot help the body reach the best levels of DHA that a preformed DHA dietary supplement can provide. While this research casts a great deal of light on how best to increase mothers’ and babies’ DHA intake, it may pose a challenge to find a supplement that provides preformed DHA but does not contain fish oil.

In the study, conducted for the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, by various schools and research facilities, including the Cornell University Division of Nutritional Sciences, research showed that DHA was not passed on to a breastfeeding child unless the mother consumed DHA that was already fully formed. In a diet rich in linoleic acid (LA), the main source of ALA, the levels of ALA and EPA were raised in the blood and breast milk of a lactating mother. In spite of this, the DHA levels in the breast milk were not affected by the addition of LA to the diet. Therefore, infants who were breastfed by mothers who had high levels of ALA and EPA in their blood still had DHA levels that were significantly lower than infants who were breastfed by mothers who consumed preformed DHA.

Discover Algae-Derived DHA

Humans usually obtain preformed DHA from fish oil, but the fish do not produce the DHA themselves. They actually obtain these fatty acids from the algae they consume. There is, then, a vegetarian option for those who want to ensure an adequate level of DHA intake for themselves, as well as for infants’ developing brains and bodies. V-Pure Omega-3 EPA & DHA supplements, taken daily, provide 50 mg of EPA and 350 mg of DHA per day, using essential oils derived completely from organically grown algae, and completely vegan. An added benefit of vegan essential oil supplements is that the dangers of elevated pollution levels is completely eliminated because the oils bypass fish bodies and go directly from the algae into concentrated caplets.

In other words, optimum levels of DHA in infants and mothers were only achieved when the mother consumed preformed DHA. Research also showed that the consumption of additional ALA did not guarantee the child would receive a higher concentration of DHA. Consuming only flax seed oil to obtain DHA and pass it on to the child, then, is an ineffective method because, while the mother’s body can convert some of this to DHA, the baby is by no means ensured an adequate supply of it. In light of this new research, the issue of finding the right supplement becomes even more important, and for vegetarians, the choices can be limited. The solution, however, can be found in V-Pure, the only vegan-certified product on the market that derives preformed DHA suitable for vegetarian mothers.

Getting the proper nutrients in a vegetarian diet can be a challenge, but the benefits of attaining a proper level of nutrition outweigh the inconvenience. For breastfeeding mothers, it involves much more than improved health, but will benefit the child in ways that will help it throughout his or her life. In the case of essential omega-3 oils, breastfeeding mothers need look no further than V-Pure Omega 3 Vegetarian supplement. This new development of algae-based DHA means getting proper levels of DHA becomes one less thing that vegetarians have to worry about.