Numerous studies have found that DHA and EPA can prevent or minimize the effects of inflammatory disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis<\/strong>, promote cardiovascular health and limit the effects of heart disease<\/a>, said Bruce J. Holub, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario.<\/p>\n For children, adequate levels of DHA are critical for normal brain and nervous system development, said Alex Richardson, Ph.D., senior research fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, founder and director of the United Kingdom charity Food and Behavior (FAB) Research; and author of the book “They are What You Feed Them.”<\/p>\n Richardson said the “physical risks to children from a nutritionally poor diet are now acknowledged, but the damage being done to their behavior, their learning abilities and mood<\/a> is not.”<\/p>\n Richardson cited numerous studies linking low levels of DHA in children and expectant mothers to a wide-range of cognitive and behavioral disorders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The problem is exacerbated by the fact that half of the fish consumed in the world today is cultivated on farms without diets that foster omega-3 nutrients<\/strong>, said Holub.<\/p>\n The average American consumes 1.6 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, of which only .2 grams (200 milligrams) are DHA or EPA<\/strong>. The American Heart Association recommends 500 milligrams of DHA and EPA each day for healthy adults and 900 mg\/day (one fatty fish meal per day, or one omega-3 supplement) for patients with coronary disease.<\/p>\n Richardson recommends 500 mgs of omega-3 fatty acids a day for children and 1 gram a day for pregnant women.<\/p>\n “I applaud any attempts (to recommend and encourage supplements) in the diets of mothers and women of childbearing age,” said Richardson, who believes that consistent, pervasive diets lacking in omega-3 fatty acids could results in genetic modifications affecting future generations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n “It’s never too late” to address this issue, said Richardson.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the IFT media release: Because of a diet low in fish and seafood, children and adults in North America and other parts of the world, have a “nutrition gap”… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[345,5,319,4,336],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15107,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14985\/revisions\/15107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Omega](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/fish_oil_omega-3.jpg\")
<\/a>Because of a diet low in fish and seafood, children and adults in North America and other parts of the world, have a “nutrition gap” of omega-3 fatty acids<\/strong>, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA),according to a presentation at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Expo in Chicago\u00ae.<\/p>\n