Clinical trial: Prenatal DHA prevents blood-pressure increase from obesity during childhood

Research published today in JAMA Network Open by investigators at the University of Kansas and KU Medical Center finds pregnant mothers who daily consumed 600 milligrams of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)—an omega-3 fatty acid found in prenatal vitamins, fish-oil supplements and fish meat—protected their offspring from the blood pressure-elevating effects of excessive weight in early childhood. Women with low-risk pregnancies in the Kansas City area were enrolled in the study at the University of Kansas Medical Center's Maternal and Child Nutrition and Development Lab between March 2006 and September 2009. Half were randomly assigned to a daily prenatal supplement of 600 milligrams DHA, and half were given a placebo. The primary outcomes of the intervention were pregnancy outcome and child development through age 6; blood pressure measured longitudinally at 4, 4 1/2, 5, 5 1/2 and 6 years of age in 171 children was a secondary outcome.