The International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, an organization with over 500 members from more than 40 countries, recently issued a consensus statement acknowledging that there is “strong evidence” about the relationship between blood concentrations of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and risk of preterm birth.
 
Following its investigation, ISSFAL concluded that “there is strong evidence that a proportion of preterm births can be prevented by increasing maternal dietary omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) intake during pregnancy. This statement provides a synthesis of contemporary evidence on the role of omega-3 LCPUFA on prevention of preterm birth and is designed to provide fatty acid-specific knowledge and guidance for medical practitioners, midwives, health services, professional bodies, and policy makers to consider for their contextual situations.”
 
The statement is evidenced by a 2018 Cochrane systematic review with supplemental evidence from randomized controlled trials, as well as from other systematic reviews. “The evidence confirmed that omega-3, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosatetraenoic acid (EPA), have an important role to play in determining gestational length in singleton pregnancies,” the organization stated. “Adequate intake of omega-3 in early pregnancy, consistent with existing nutritional guidelines, is associated with a lower risk of preterm and early preterm births for women with singleton pregnancies.”
 
The evidence suggests that the greatest benefit will be experienced by women who have a low omega-3 status, and an effective daily dose is about 1,000 mg of DHA plus EPA per day, preferably with supplementation beginning before 20 weeks’ gestation.
 
According to the authors, the details surrounding what constitutes a low omega-3 status, i.e. one which would result in preterm birth risk, remains an unanswered question. “There is no internationally agreed cut-off to define omega-3 depletion in pregnancy […] it would be worthwhile for future investigations to confirm the validity of different measures of omega-3 status for decision-making around omega-3 supplementation to reduce risk of early birth.”
 
OmegaQuant, a company which developed a specialized test kit for omega-3 blood status and for several other nutrients, applauded ISSFAL for publishing its consensus statement, which is in line with a paper published in 2019 by Kristina Harris Jackson, RD, PhD, director of research at OmegaQuant.
 
“We are excited about where the field is going and hope that we at OmegaQuant can play an important role in translating all the great research that has been done into clinically accessible and useable omega-3 status testing,” Jackson said.