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Could fish oil be a weapon in the battle against obesity in children?

April 6, 2018

Paediatrician and researcher Dr Ben Albert is running a clinical trial to see if fish oil taken during pregnancy could prevent obesity.

A clinical trial is being run to determine whether taking fish oil during pregnancy prevents babies from becoming overweight as adults.

Dr Ben Albert is the lead researcher for the fish oil trial and says he sees a number of children coming to his clinic with serious weight problems, diabetes or high blood pressure.

He wants to find out whether fish oil taken during pregnancy could prevent obesity in children and obesity-related health issues later in life.

Dr Albert says children of overweight pregnant women have nearly twice the risk of developing problems like diabetes later in life.

He says omega-3 fats in fish improves the way a mother's metabolism works, changing the environment for the unborn baby.

A trial already carried out on rats found when fish oil was used on the overweight pregnant female her offspring was protected from problems as they developed.

"If this worked in people it would be something that women who were carrying more weight would want to use and that's about 60 per cent of women in New Zealand."

The trial on humans will involve women who are less than 16 weeks pregnant, who have a body mass index greater than 30 and who do not have diabetes or smoke.

Outside the trial, though, Dr Albert isn't recommending that women head to the supermarket to buy bottles of fish oil.

His team's earlier research showed many products on the market were rancid – oxidised above recommended levels, and the health effects are unknown. Instead, they should eat lots of fresh oily fish.

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