The effects of 3g eicosapentaenoic acid daily on recurrence of intrauterine growth retardation and pregnancy induced hypertension

Abstract

Objective To study the effects of addition of 3 g eicosapentaenoic acid daily to the diet, on recurrence rate of intrauterine growth retardation and pregnancy induced hypertension in a high risk population. Design Prospective, double blind, randomised multicentre study. Eicosapentaenoic acid or placebo were given from 12 to 14 weeks of gestation onwards. Setting University Hospital and regional hospitals in the north of the Netherlands. Subjects Sixty‐three women with a history of intrauterine growth retardation (birthweight < 10th centile) with or without pregnancy induced hypertension in the previous pregnancy. Main outcome measures Birthweight centiles and signs of pregnancy induced hypertension in current pregnancy. Results One‐third of the women developed pregnancy induced hypertension and one‐third of the infants had a birthweight below the 10th centile. There were no differences between eicosapentaenoic acid and placebo group. Conclusion Addition of 3 g eicosapentaenoic acid daily does not prevent recurrence of intrauterine growth retardation or pregnancy induced hypertension in a high risk population.

Duration of pregnancy in relation to fish oil supplementation and habitual fish intake: a randomised clinical trial with fish oil

“…The hypothesis has been supported by some (Olsen et al, 1992;Olsen et al, 2000;Smuts et al, 2003) but not all (Bulstra-Ramakers et al, 1995;Onwude et al, 1995;Helland et al, 2001;Knudsen et al, 2006) randomised controlled trials (Olsen 2004;Makrides et al, 2006;Szajewska et al, 2006), and by some (Olsen et al, 1991;Olsen and Secher 2002) but, again, far from all (Olsen 1994;Olsen et al, 1995;Bjerregaard and Hansen 1996;Oken et al, 2004;Rogers et al, 2004;Thorsdottir et al, 2004) observational studies. Two recent meta-analyses of controlled trials concluded that fish oil probably prolongs pregnancy, but that the size of this effect, estimated from the pooled analyses, is most probably too small to be of any clinical significance (Makrides et al, 2006;Szajewska et al, 2006).…”

Duration of pregnancy in relation to seafood intake during early and mid pregnancy: prospective cohort

“…The hypothesis has been supported by some [8][9][10] but not all [11][12][13][14] randomised controlled trials [15], and by some [16,17] but, again, far from all [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] observational studies.…”

Background Paper on Fat and Fatty Acid Requirements during Pregnancy and Lactation

“…Another metaanalysis evaluated birth outcomes in 6 studies [Olsen et al, 1992;Helland et al, 2001;Malcolm et al, 2003b;Smuts et al, 2003a;Smuts et al, 2003b;Sanjurjo et al, 2004] and concluded that there is a mild increase of length of pregnancy with marine oil supplementation [Szajewska et al, 2006]. A 2006 Cochrane systematic review considered 6 trials [D'Almeida et al, 1992;Olsen et al, 1992Olsen et al, , 2000Bulstra-Ramakers et al, 1995;Onwude et al, 1995;Smuts et al, 2003b] of EPA or EPA + DHA on the risk of preeclampsia, preterm birth, low birthweight, and small-for-gestational age [Makrides et al, 2006]. An analysis of a subset of 3 trials [Olsen et al, 1992[Olsen et al, , 2000Smuts et al, 2003b], deemed high quality, concluded that women allocated to a marine oil supple- ment had a mean gestational period 2.6 days longer than those allocated to placebo or untreated groups.…”

“…A 2007 meta-analysis on the effects of LCPUFA supplementation in highrisk pregnancies on several parameters [Horvath et al, 2007] included 4 studies [Moodley and Norman, 1989;Bulstra-Ramakers et al, 1995;Onwude et al, 1995;Olsen et al, 2000], and on the basis of 2 [Bulstra- Ramakers et al, 1995;Olsen et al, 2000] concluded that LCPUFA supplementation reduced early preterm delivery ( ! 34 weeks gestation; RR = 0.39, CI: 0.18-0.84), but found no significant effects for 12 other parameters.…”