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Friday, October 31, 2008

N.M. Moms' Milk Found Deficient

By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
       The milk of nursing mothers in New Mexico has low levels of a nutrient crucial to brain and vision development, a University of New Mexico researcher says, and the deficiency could cost children up to six IQ points.
    A UNM study of 29 breast-feeding mothers found that their infants, on average, received only one-quarter the recommended amount of DHA from their mother's milk. That's among the lowest levels in the world.
    DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, is an omega-3 essential fatty acid found most abundantly in seafood.
    The World Health Organization recommends that nursing infants receive 100 mg of DHA per day. The New Mexico infants on average received only 24 mg per day.
    The study points to New Mexico's low marine-food diet and recommends that pregnant and nursing mothers eat DHA-rich foods such as salmon and tuna or take dietary supplements that contain fish oil or algae.
    The study was published this week in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
    Biochemist Robert Glew, the study's lead author, said the findings are valuable despite the small number of women who completed the study.
    The intensive study examined the diets and DHA levels in the blood and milk of women who sought childcare at UNM Hospital in 2005 and 2006.
    DHA plays a key role in the development of the brain and the retina, Glew said. A shortage can impair intelligence, vision and possibly hearing, he said. Studies have shown that a deficiency of DHA can result in a six-point drop in the child's IQ score, Glew said.
    "We can't afford to have New Mexico kids giving up six IQ points," he said.
    More than 100 studies have examined women's DHA levels in more than 50 countries, Glew said, and New Mexico falls near the bottom.
    "The levels of DHA in New Mexico women are among the lowest in the world," said Glew, who has spent much of his career studying Africa and other developing regions.
    The women who completed the study were nearly evenly divided between Hispanics and Anglos. UNM recently began a similar study of Native American women. Glew said the results call for a larger study of women in the Southwest.
    The study concentrated on nursing mothers. But pregnant women also need DHA because much brain development occurs in the third trimester, Glew said.
    The study suggests that New Mexico women have DHA levels below those of other U.S. women, even in landlocked areas.
    For example, the mean percentage of DHA in the milk of the New Mexico women was only 0.11 percent. That figure is well below the 0.4 percent recommended and only 40 percent of results for Oklahoma women studied in 2005.
    The study doesn't explain why New Mexico women may have lower DHA levels than women in other regions of the United States, other than pointing to low marine-food diets.
    The study calls for health professionals to educate nursing and pregnant women about the benefits of consuming DHA-rich foods or supplements.
    But it also urges that women avoid seafood associated with high mercury content, including shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish.
    Concern about fish consumption on brain development has been a vexing national health issue in recent years.
    The National Health Mothers, Health Babies Coalition, a nonprofit coalition of scientists, issued a statement last year advising pregnant and breast-feeding women to consume at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood a week to ensure proper brain development in babies.
    But that recommendation was at odds with the standard government recommendation that those women should eat no more than 12 ounces of seafood out of concern for mercury contamination.
    Karen Armitage, chief medical officer for the New Mexico Department of Health, urged pregnant and nursing women to consult their physicians or a nutritionist at New Mexico Women Infants and Children program for advice.
    "It's interesting how nutrition is often a matter of balance," Armitage said. "You're often walking a tightrope."
    For information about WIC or other health programs, call the state nurse advice line at (877) 725-2552.