Approximately 68% of mothers did not know about DHA and DHA supplements for children properly. This is a very important quality for the development of the young brain and retina.


The information is announced at the seminar "Food ingredient DHA damage in nutritional products for infants" in Vietnam.


Associate Professor - Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam, Deputy Director of the National Nutrition Institute, said: DHA, full name is Docosa Hexaenoic Acid, a fatty acid omega-3 group.


These are important components of the cell central nervous system, helps the brain and retina development of children, especially the 2 years of life.


Patients should eat a variety of food, especially seafood to ensure that milk is rich in DHA - Photo: Shutterstock


However, the body can not synthesize DHA, which have been put into food sources.


"Breast-fed babies completely in 6 months will be adequate DHA supply," Ms Lam said.


In particular, pregnant women should eat a variety of food, especially seafood (fish, shrimp, crab, ...), eggs, oilseeds (groundnut, sesame, soy ...) right from the bearing last 3 months of pregnancy and after birth to ensure good quality milk. These foods contain more DHA to provide the child through breast milk.


As recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), DHA needs of infants (0-12 months) is 17mg/100kcal and children aged 1-6 years is 75mg/ngay.


But now there are many parents are not a thorough understanding of DHA, to provide them with how much is enough and the period is reasonable. Worryingly there are many foods on the market hype in the levels of DHA.


Ms. Lin recommended parents should not arbitrarily choose to buy nutritious foods for infants DHA supplements because many products do not indicate the same components in the product (vitamin A). If concurrent use of multiple products is dangerous to health. Parents should consult a doctor before purchasing dietary supplement products for children.
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