KELOWNA, B.C. : UBC-Okanagan researchers are exploring the contents of baby diapers to seek scientific answers.
Biology department scientists, working under Dr. Deanna Gibson, are looking into DHA supplementation and whether it’s good for babies.
“The idea basically came from my doctor’s office where I had given birth and my doctor had passed me a certain type of formula if I had chosen to give formula,” says Dr. Gibson of the baby formula that contained DHA, otherwise known as Omega-3.
“There’s some evidence to support that Omega 3’s do have a positive effect in brain development in an infant, and that’s why it’s being put in the formula in the first place,” says Dr. Gibson. “But there’s a lot of other evidence to support that there may not be a long lasting effect.”
Researchers are collecting fecal matter and freezing it to examine contents and see if DHA supplements are working on an infant’s intestinal health.
“We extract DNA from it because we are trying to look at different species of bacteria in baby’s gut,” says UBC-O PhD student Zahra Ahmadivand.
“Are we adding too much, are we adding to little?” Ahmadivand queries. “And at this point we can’t answer that question because we are trying to see what is happening there and what is the effect on these omega 3’s in our body.”
There are four sample groups in the study, adds Dr. Gibson. “There’s people who breast feed, so we’re looking at infants who are solely being breastfed. Another groups is breastfed with mom taking fish oil supplements, which is common, then the other group is formula fed, and then the other group is formula with DHA.”
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Ahmadivand, also a former dietician from Iran, has found North American diets are often supplemented twice as much with Omega-3’s as other parts of the world.
“Part of the reason could be that people here eat less fish,” she surmises.
The research is not commercially funded, which means the results will not lean toward supporting a product or supplement directly, but help everyone with clear information on DHA supplementation, especially in children.
To participate and find more information on the study, check out https://people.ok.ubc.ca/degibson/home.html or email m.jay@alumni.ubc.ca or call 1-778-821-4512
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