Omega-3 Fatty Acids

What do parents know about omega 3?

A lot of bandwidth and newsprint have been spent spreading the word about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.

Apparently, few parents are reading.

This article in Functional Ingredients reports what Stremicks Heritage Foods learned about what parents understand about docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid that is readily used by the body.

Here’s what they found.

  • Fewer than 1 in 5 people understand the importance of DHA to a newborn or infant (18%).
  • Even fewer know that DHA is important to the health of toddlers (16%) and preschool-aged children (14%).
  • 72% of respondents said they made a conscious effort to include certain vitamins and nutrients, such as vitamin C and calcium, in their child’s daily diet.
  • But only 7% were including omega-3 DHA in their diet.

The bottom line?
Here’s my primer on omega-3 fatty acids for mums and their kids.

5/13/08 20:46 JR

Hi, I’m JR

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.