#057 Aliquot #1: Q&A Mashup - Pregnancy and child development

Omega 3: Epa

Omega-3 during pregnancy, fish consumption, and mercury concerns. Which fish to avoid during pregnancy?

"Actually, even fish, you know, the fish that has, particularly fish that was high in omega-3 and low in mercury, it's still even protected against toxic effects of mercury in a developing fetus, which is the most sensitive to mercury."

Breast Milk Discussion

Omega-3 during pregnancy, fish consumption, and mercury concerns. Which fish to avoid during pregnancy?

"And there was another study that was published, huge, huge meta-study, looked at not only prospective studies, which are associative, can't really establish causation, but they also looked Thank you."

Magnesium Discussion

Again, almond butter is really high. If your child has had nut allergy, another great source of vitamin E is olive oil.

"My son does a lot of eating of nuts and nut butters and almond butter. And he eats a lot of butter and eggs. Lewis asks, any evidence that there's supplementation for children that's been shown to be beneficial. And I will say that basically, if you were to ask, you know, is there one supplement that's been shown, like, if you could only, you know, if I could only give my son one supplement, what would it be? And I would say, hands down, it would be, it would be fish oil. It would be, it would be the marine omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, particularly DHA. So there has been studies showing that, you know, omega-3 fatty acids may have long-term neurodevelopmental effects in children, um, that ultimately can reduce antisocial and aggressive behavior. So omega-3 fatty acids, um, influence cell membrane integrity. They influence the receptors that are bound to cells. They were, you know, which, which, you know, you know, in neurons, this is, this is basically affecting how neurotransmitters are communicating and binding to those receptors. It affects blood clotting. It affects biosynthesis of hormones, all sorts of things. And so there have been randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trials, one that involved 200 school-aged children, 8 to 16 years old. They were randomized either into a placebo or a treatment group. And the children that were given, they were given one gram of mixed omega-3 fatty acids every day for six months. And the placebo group had a drink that was sort of similar tasting to the drink that had the omega-3 fatty acids. And at the end of the six-month period, both parents and children completed a variety of personality assessments and reports about behavior, externalizing behavior, such as fighting or lying, internalizing behavior, such as depression or anxiety or withdrawal. Those were all assessed. The children who took the omega-3 fatty acid beverage had significant reductions in negative behaviors that actually persisted 12 months after, or it persisted to the 12-month point. The externalizing behaviors were reduced by 42%, and the internalizing behaviors were reduced by almost 70%. And so that's really kind of very significant. And it's thought that this may be a consequence of the effects on DHA and EPA on neuronal health, neurotransmitter production, neurotransmitter function, inflammation in the brain as well. Another study has showed that basically blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids can affect children's behavior and their ability to learn. So higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly DHA, have been associated with better reading, memory, fewer behavior problems. Particularly when DHA supplementation was done in these children, there was improved reading and behavior, particularly in the children that were underperforming. So children that were not reading very well at baseline, they had, you know, seen the biggest improvement. More double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials, finding that omega-3 supplementation reduces disruptive behavior. Just, you know, in this study, vitamin D was also given along with omega-3. This was 300 milligrams of DHA, 200 milligrams of EPA, and 400 milligrams of alpha-linoleic acid. And again, the children in the omega-3 and vitamin D group had improved their behavior, They're less aggressive behavior, less disruptive. Just a really recurring theme with many different randomized control trials showing that omega-3 seems to really affect behavior in a positive way in children. Another small clinical trial showed that eating fatty fish, such as salmon, twice a week for six months reduced asthma symptoms and reduced bronchial inflammation by 14 units in children. So children in the omega-3 group that were eating fish twice a week also had a significant reduction in their medication use compared to children in the control group. So it's known that EPA and DHA can inhibit the cyclooxygenases, which are, and the lipooxygenase enzyme activity, which basically can affect inflammation, particularly pro-inflammatory mediators that play a role in asthma. So it's thought that that may be how omega-3 is helping with asthma. And another study that's really interesting was this, this study was done a few years ago, basically showed that omega-3 can prevent the, may prevent the onset of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders long after being consumed, actually up to seven years later. So there was a study that was done in young people that were at a high risk for schizophrenia for genetic reasons, or there was a family member that a family member that, that had, you know, psychosis or schizophrenia. And so these young, young people were given the omega-3 supplements for 12 weeks. And throughout that time, they basically, you know, had, you know, less, you know, psychotic episodes. But a follow-up study was done almost seven years later, and it found that basically, while only 10% of the young people that were in the omega-3 group developed psychosis seven years later, 40% of people in the placebo group developed psychosis seven years later. So, you know, schizophrenia is something that really emerges in young adulthood, particularly during adolescence, and it can kind of happen quickly or sort of gradually. So I just think that's a really important study, particularly for, you know, families that do have, you know, that there is a relative that has psychosis or schizophrenia, there's a genetic risk. You know, just the fact that, you know, supplementing with omega-3 supplements for 12 weeks had such a profound effect on reducing the risk of psychosis years and years later is very compelling. Another study recently found that basically it was an observational study looking at omega-3 fatty acid levels, EPA and DHA in the blood of children and adolescents. And those children and adolescents that had higher levels of omega-3 EPA and DHA had lower levels of DNA damage. So, you know, DNA damage is something that accumulates with age. It's, you know, involved with cancer and aging in general. And, you know, if you can, if you're having high levels of DNA damage early on in childhood, you know, what does that say for the way you're going to age? You know, it's really not a good indicator that you're going to age well if that DNA damage is already happening early in childhood. And so, and that was also shown that people, the children and adolescents with low levels of omega-3 fatty acids were, had higher levels of DNA damage, you know? So, So I think that hands down, omega-3, particularly DHA and EPA, are extremely beneficial for children and adolescents and generally for young people on many levels. particularly I focused a lot on the brain, you know, behavior, reading, and then also, you know, for other reasons, you know, you know, reducing inflammation, you know, particularly with respect to asthma, but, you know, inflammation in general can have consequences that, that, you know, affect many different processes, including cognitive function. Vitamin D is another one that I think is important. You know, not all children are going outside and, you know, spending a lot of time outside and they're certainly not out, you know, in regions that UVB radiation is, you know, being generated in the atmosphere. You know, so like northern, northern latitude places, you know, Washington state, Washington State, the entire East Coast of the United States, for example. So I think that's another beneficial one, but definitely Omega-3 asks if there are restrictions for women and fasting. I've heard a lot of podcasts benefits for fasting, but I haven't heard many directed for women, i.e. is the frequency, is it different? Does it affect women's hormones, their cycle? Should it be done at a certain part of the cycle or anything else to be aware of? So just as a sort of opener and background, fasting is not recommended for women that have a history of an eating disorder. It's not recommended for women that are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant or breastfeeding. It's also not recommended for women that are extremely lean or underweight. So any of those, you know, any of those criteria would definitely disqualify a woman from or should disqualify a woman from fasting. It's a question from, let's see, Anelia. And she's asking about things I did to help with the development of the baby while I was pregnant and before I got pregnant. and what are my thoughts on being pregnant while on a shift schedule, at least in the first trimester. So getting up multiple times during the night. So things I did before pregnancy. Thanks for listening to this preview of the first episode of the Aliquot. To listen to the full episode, you'll need to sign up to become a FoundMyFitness premium member at foundmyfitness.com forward slash Aliquot. That's A-L-I-Q-U-O-T, Aliquot. We launched our premium membership to help support our scholarly work and reinvest in producing more quality, well-researched podcast videos and articles. Not only do Found My Fitness premium members support our particular flavor of healthspan-focused podcast scholarship, but members also receive exclusive content and access, including access to live monthly Q&As with me and an archive of prior Q&As, an exclusive private podcast feed delivering new episodes of the aliquot, our recordings of our monthly Q&As, and early access to Found My Fitness podcast interviews. Science Digest, a twice-monthly members-only email curating the latest studies with notes, comments, and related links. Access to all updates to our genetic report. An exclusive Found My Fitness t-shirt. Access to our members' library of research summaries, background notes, presentation slides, and more exclusive content. To learn more and subscribe to our private podcast feed to hear the rest of this very episode, head over to foundmyfitness.com forward slash aliquot and sign up today. Hey, one last thing, guys. I just want to make it clear. These members Q and A's that this content originated from are really meant to be a discussion of the science. It's definitely not meant to be diagnostic or as a treatment for any health condition. This podcast does not establish a client patient relationship. So just keep that in mind. Talk to you guys soon."

Omega 3: Epa

My son does a lot of eating of nuts and nut butters and almond butter. Lewis asks, any evidence that there's supplementation for children that's been shown to be beneficial.

"My son does a lot of eating of nuts and nut butters and almond butter. And he eats a lot of butter and eggs. Lewis asks, any evidence that there's supplementation for children that's been shown to be beneficial."

Vitamin D: Supplementation

More double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials, finding that omega-3 supplementation reduces disruptive behavior. Just, you know, in this study, vitamin D was also given along with omega-3.

"My son does a lot of eating of nuts and nut butters and almond butter. And he eats a lot of butter and eggs. Lewis asks, any evidence that there's supplementation for children that's been shown to be beneficial. And I will say that basically, if you were to ask, you know, is there one supplement that's been shown, like, if you could only, you know, if I could only give my son one supplement, what would it be? And I would say, hands down, it would be, it would be fish oil. It would be, it would be the marine omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, particularly DHA. So there has been studies showing that, you know, omega-3 fatty acids may have long-term neurodevelopmental effects in children, um, that ultimately can reduce antisocial and aggressive behavior. So omega-3 fatty acids, um, influence cell membrane integrity. They influence the receptors that are bound to cells. They were, you know, which, which, you know, you know, in neurons, this is, this is basically affecting how neurotransmitters are communicating and binding to those receptors. It affects blood clotting. It affects biosynthesis of hormones, all sorts of things. And so there have been randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trials, one that involved 200 school-aged children, 8 to 16 years old. They were randomized either into a placebo or a treatment group. And the children that were given, they were given one gram of mixed omega-3 fatty acids every day for six months. And the placebo group had a drink that was sort of similar tasting to the drink that had the omega-3 fatty acids. And at the end of the six-month period, both parents and children completed a variety of personality assessments and reports about behavior, externalizing behavior, such as fighting or lying, internalizing behavior, such as depression or anxiety or withdrawal. Those were all assessed. The children who took the omega-3 fatty acid beverage had significant reductions in negative behaviors that actually persisted 12 months after, or it persisted to the 12-month point. The externalizing behaviors were reduced by 42%, and the internalizing behaviors were reduced by almost 70%. And so that's really kind of very significant. And it's thought that this may be a consequence of the effects on DHA and EPA on neuronal health, neurotransmitter production, neurotransmitter function, inflammation in the brain as well. Another study has showed that basically blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids can affect children's behavior and their ability to learn. So higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly DHA, have been associated with better reading, memory, fewer behavior problems. Particularly when DHA supplementation was done in these children, there was improved reading and behavior, particularly in the children that were underperforming. So children that were not reading very well at baseline, they had, you know, seen the biggest improvement. More double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials, finding that omega-3 supplementation reduces disruptive behavior. Just, you know, in this study, vitamin D was also given along with omega-3. This was 300 milligrams of DHA, 200 milligrams of EPA, and 400 milligrams of alpha-linoleic acid. And again, the children in the omega-3 and vitamin D group had improved their behavior, They're less aggressive behavior, less disruptive. Just a really recurring theme with many different randomized control trials showing that omega-3 seems to really affect behavior in a positive way in children. Another small clinical trial showed that eating fatty fish, such as salmon, twice a week for six months reduced asthma symptoms and reduced bronchial inflammation by 14 units in children. So children in the omega-3 group that were eating fish twice a week also had a significant reduction in their medication use compared to children in the control group. So it's known that EPA and DHA can inhibit the cyclooxygenases, which are, and the lipooxygenase enzyme activity, which basically can affect inflammation, particularly pro-inflammatory mediators that play a role in asthma. So it's thought that that may be how omega-3 is helping with asthma. And another study that's really interesting was this, this study was done a few years ago, basically showed that omega-3 can prevent the, may prevent the onset of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders long after being consumed, actually up to seven years later. So there was a study that was done in young people that were at a high risk for schizophrenia for genetic reasons, or there was a family member that a family member that, that had, you know, psychosis or schizophrenia. And so these young, young people were given the omega-3 supplements for 12 weeks. And throughout that time, they basically, you know, had, you know, less, you know, psychotic episodes. But a follow-up study was done almost seven years later, and it found that basically, while only 10% of the young people that were in the omega-3 group developed psychosis seven years later, 40% of people in the placebo group developed psychosis seven years later. So, you know, schizophrenia is something that really emerges in young adulthood, particularly during adolescence, and it can kind of happen quickly or sort of gradually. So I just think that's a really important study, particularly for, you know, families that do have, you know, that there is a relative that has psychosis or schizophrenia, there's a genetic risk. You know, just the fact that, you know, supplementing with omega-3 supplements for 12 weeks had such a profound effect on reducing the risk of psychosis years and years later is very compelling. Another study recently found that basically it was an observational study looking at omega-3 fatty acid levels, EPA and DHA in the blood of children and adolescents. And those children and adolescents that had higher levels of omega-3 EPA and DHA had lower levels of DNA damage. So, you know, DNA damage is something that accumulates with age. It's, you know, involved with cancer and aging in general. And, you know, if you can, if you're having high levels of DNA damage early on in childhood, you know, what does that say for the way you're going to age? You know, it's really not a good indicator that you're going to age well if that DNA damage is already happening early in childhood. And so, and that was also shown that people, the children and adolescents with low levels of omega-3 fatty acids were, had higher levels of DNA damage, you know? So, So I think that hands down, omega-3, particularly DHA and EPA, are extremely beneficial for children and adolescents and generally for young people on many levels. particularly I focused a lot on the brain, you know, behavior, reading, and then also, you know, for other reasons, you know, you know, reducing inflammation, you know, particularly with respect to asthma, but, you know, inflammation in general can have consequences that, that, you know, affect many different processes, including cognitive function. Vitamin D is another one that I think is important. You know, not all children are going outside and, you know, spending a lot of time outside and they're certainly not out, you know, in regions that UVB radiation is, you know, being generated in the atmosphere. You know, so like northern, northern latitude places, you know, Washington state, Washington State, the entire East Coast of the United States, for example. So I think that's another beneficial one, but definitely Omega-3 asks if there are restrictions for women and fasting. I've heard a lot of podcasts benefits for fasting, but I haven't heard many directed for women, i.e. is the frequency, is it different? Does it affect women's hormones, their cycle? Should it be done at a certain part of the cycle or anything else to be aware of? So just as a sort of opener and background, fasting is not recommended for women that have a history of an eating disorder. It's not recommended for women that are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant or breastfeeding. It's also not recommended for women that are extremely lean or underweight. So any of those, you know, any of those criteria would definitely disqualify a woman from or should disqualify a woman from fasting. It's a question from, let's see, Anelia. And she's asking about things I did to help with the development of the baby while I was pregnant and before I got pregnant. and what are my thoughts on being pregnant while on a shift schedule, at least in the first trimester. So getting up multiple times during the night. So things I did before pregnancy. Thanks for listening to this preview of the first episode of the Aliquot. To listen to the full episode, you'll need to sign up to become a FoundMyFitness premium member at foundmyfitness.com forward slash Aliquot. That's A-L-I-Q-U-O-T, Aliquot. We launched our premium membership to help support our scholarly work and reinvest in producing more quality, well-researched podcast videos and articles. Not only do Found My Fitness premium members support our particular flavor of healthspan-focused podcast scholarship, but members also receive exclusive content and access, including access to live monthly Q&As with me and an archive of prior Q&As, an exclusive private podcast feed delivering new episodes of the aliquot, our recordings of our monthly Q&As, and early access to Found My Fitness podcast interviews. Science Digest, a twice-monthly members-only email curating the latest studies with notes, comments, and related links. Access to all updates to our genetic report. An exclusive Found My Fitness t-shirt. Access to our members' library of research summaries, background notes, presentation slides, and more exclusive content. To learn more and subscribe to our private podcast feed to hear the rest of this very episode, head over to foundmyfitness.com forward slash aliquot and sign up today. Hey, one last thing, guys. I just want to make it clear. These members Q and A's that this content originated from are really meant to be a discussion of the science. It's definitely not meant to be diagnostic or as a treatment for any health condition. This podcast does not establish a client patient relationship. So just keep that in mind. Talk to you guys soon."