<<Since DHA levels in breastmilk seem to vary by mother's diet, can we
say
> what the optimal level is? (Do various manufacturer's formulas contain
> the same amounts?) The overall fat/calories in human milk seems to
> remain fairly consistent, even as the type of fat varies.  While the
> amount of DHA in the milk of a mother on the standard American diet may
> be lower, there is always some level of DHA, and perhaps it is
> sufficient?>>

I can't imagine that that would be the case.   We now eat so many things
that humans were never meant to have in their bodies and therefore there
milk.

<<But we also don't want to fall into the trap that "more is always
> better,">>

Right.  it isn't.  many things in the human body are about ratios (as
long as amounts are sufficient) and 'more' is rarely better than 'what's
right'.

My gold standard is "what would we have been eating over the course of
evolution/in an evolutionary environment" and I go from there.

In that environment we would have been getting DHA from fish/marine life
(no matter where ppl lived there was water and thus food sources of DHA)
and animals would have been foraging/grazing/eating plants which means
high levels of omega 3's and CLA.   The Omega 3's from grassfed animals
convert to DHA at about a 4:1 ratio.

Also, wild plants contain DHA as well.

No one ate processed refined canola, sunflower or safflower oil (or
organic, cold pressed canola etc for that matter).......since we do in
our modern environment, we have this significant load of omega *6* EFA's
and a serious lack of omega *3* EFA's.    It affects our health on the
whole, every cell, every body system, almost every disease imagineable
and most noticable in my life, brain function.

if, in an evolutionary environment/traditional diet we would have had a
4:1 omega 3:6 ratio, and no we have a 1:27-150 omega 3:6 ratio, then in
my mind there's no possible way that without changing the diet or taking
fish oil, there is 'enough' DHA in breastmilk for optimal development.
Of course, the 'worst' ratio of 3:6 in breastmilk is still much better
than the processed fats in formula which still have a very skewed ratio.

katherine in atl

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