"From: Naznin Hebert <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Essential fatty acids. I would love to have your opinion on this. A nutritionist says that there is DHA/ARA in breastmilk only if mothers consume enough foods containing it. And studies show that many women are deficient in this and we should be telling moms to include those sources in their diets, otherwise there is not enough DHA/ARA in their milk. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance. Naznin." Nanzin, The body does not make EFAs, although it converts ALA to DHA and EPA. LA converts to AA. When you do not consume adequate sources of ALA or LA and/or you consume sources of trans-fats, you cannot have enough DHA, AA or EPA. A mother who is deficient will have deficient levels in her breastmilk and while we like to say that we do not know how much is enough, we know that the human body did not evolve to contend with trans-fats and that most women in the West have diets very poor in EFAs and very high in toxic, rancid fats. When it comes to fats, what you eat is in your milk. In one study, the level of EFAs in Chinese mothers' milk was significantly higher than in Canadian mothers' milk. Canadians have among the highest levels of trans-fats in their milk. WE all need EFAs and lots of them, but pregnant and nursing moms are growing their babies' brains on some very dangerous fats in they do not consume EFAs. Of course, AF babies' brains are growing on even less of what they need, but this does not make the nutrient deficiency of the Western diet any less of a concern. One can certainly implicate this deficiency in may disease processes, including autism and food allergies. My thoughts--Western mothers eat atrociously poor diets and so do their babies. Even if you want to make the argument that even poorly fed women make good milk (and I firmly disagree), you cannot make this argument in a vacuum. I do not think Western mothers of child-bearing age are generally healthy to begin with and a toxic environment makes the need for nutrients far greater, as the body rapidly depletes them in an effort to overcome the toxic load. Add to that the fact that so many women are having first babies later in life, when their bodies have had longer exposure to toxins and when they are often in even poorer health themselves. Women who are having babies need to be educated about eating EFA rich foods and completely eliminating trans-fats and toxic, rancid oils. Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA Intuitive Parenting Network LLC *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome