Cloud Centerless: pregnant women to avoid linolenic acid?

Pregnant women should eat linolenic acid Beijing News weekly, the new knowledge

Recently, a friend of mine told me to do a pregnancy prepared to listen to the lecture "eugenics".

Lecture of "experts" recommend a heap of hype and health products. From the nutritional point of view, many of which are not reliable and the most ridiculous and probably several linolenic acid.

Linolenic acid comes from plants, constitute part of fatty acids, linseed oil.

Because oil is different depending on which of the fatty acids, so in our daily lives, we generally do not distinguish between the vegetable oils and fatty acids. From the chemical structure, it has two isoforms. Been marketed that called alpha linolenic acid (ALA), Lipin 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids of one type. Lipin 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids of other types, the most well known are EPA and DHA. They are the main ingredients of fish oil.

Over the past few decades, the DHA and EPA study very much.

They evidence for human health are also relatively adequate. However, they are widely recognized benefits of academia is also limited to cardiovascular health. Them for maternal and fetal development role, there are also some evidence to support it. However compared with cardiovascular health, it is not sufficient. United States national institutes of health (NIH) and the National Library of medicine's summary of the Book Service Center to make is "do not know in women during pregnancy and lactation supplementary Lipin 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is beneficial for babies." Fish oil and EPA, DHA is added to the pregnant woman, infant food, primarily because of the amount of the usual supplementary under no adverse effects, but those useful role "may really exist." However, fish oil is not "absolute security". Too much fish oil may cause bleeding, such as the nose or urine-blood. For women, this kind of coagulation difficulties when confinement is verynegative. Therefore, even if it is "pure natural, non-polluting", does not mean that the more the better.

Because ALA also has Lipin 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid chemical structure, so it is inferred that may have similar effects of fish oil.

But so far, there is no reliable evidence to prove this point, it only shows "this feature might exist, further research is needed to confirm".

Fatty acid in the human body can be converted.

If ALA can be transformed into EPA and DHA, supplement it with fish oil supplements. In theory, ALA does through a specific biochemical reaction into EPA and DHA. But in fact, many people have studied the ALA into EPA and DHA, the conclusion is "conversion rate is very low," and especially into DHA ratio can be ignored.

Linolenic acid itself of "health" is painted roses, which translates into "functional" scientific support of EPA and DHA's efficiency and very low, as the "health products" exists almost only psychological comfort.

Worse, a large number of supplementary is hard to say whether it is harmful. Detect such harmful effects cannot get anyone to do the experiment, so we don't know who to add too many ALA what adverse consequences. But the animal experiment can give us some clues. According to animal experimentation, to complement the linolenic acid will stimulate the menstrual appear, and other hormone secretion that pregnant women may be harmful.

There is no use of kindness, no harm is not at all clear, NIH and the National Library of medicine "is not recommended during pregnancy and lactation using linolenic acid or linseed oil."

In September of this year, published in annals of nutrition and metabolism published an article about pregnancy and lactation period, the needs of a literature review of fatty acids and concluded there is no evidence to support "in addition to normal diet supplement ALA".

There are some publicity also claimed that interna

tional organizations "recommended daily intake of 1300 mg ALA" shows each 1000 mg ALA's products are so necessary. In fact, even if the amount of the "recommendation" is not completely true, and also means "health products" linolenic acid. Many vegetable oils contain a considerable quantity of ALA, such as soybean oil 7%-8%, while the mustard oil is usually around 10%. In other words, if a man eat more than 10 g of the oil, which is the equivalent of a "health products". In addition, many green leafy vegetables also contain ALA. The nutrition and metabolic Yearbook summary of the article also lists some population through normal diet intake amount of ALA, generally it is more than 1000 mg.

□ Cloud Centerless (United States Food Engineering doctorate)