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by Dean Raffelock, D.C., Dipl.Ac., CCN
Pregnancy and Postpartum Nutrition
Eating the right fats and oils can help you
and your baby’s health.
Underlying a wide range of the
postpartum ailments that I
often see in my practice—including asthma, allergies,
eczema, mood problems,
depression and autoimmune disease—is a
single nutritional imbalance: too much of
certain fats and not enough of others. You
may be accustomed to thinking of fat only in
terms of how much of it has collected on certain
parts of your body, preventing you from
getting into your pre-pregnancy jeans. Or
you may only consider it when loading up
your shopping cart with low-fat or non-fat foods. If so, it’s time to change your
thinking.
Certain fats are essential for life. Every
cell in your body is surrounded by a
membrane made from fatty acids, the most
basic building blocks of fats. Fats are
necessary building blocks for hormones.
Prostaglandins, which regulate immune
system and reproductive function, inflammation,
the constriction and expansion of
blood vessels and blood clotting, are made
exclusively from fats.
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| Research has shown that children who breast-feed score higher on I.Q. tests than those fed formula
because specific fats that are found in mother’s milk are important for proper brain development. |
Your Fat Stores Build Baby’s Brain
During pregnancy your
body was literally drained
of the fats needed for the
building of your baby’s
brain and nervous system.
The human brain is more
than 60 percent fat.
Research has shown that
children who breast-feed
score higher on I.Q. tests
than those fed formula
because specific fats that
are found in mother’s milk
are important for proper
brain development. Those
fats continue to flow from
your body into the body
and brain of your child
during breast-feeding.
This is another reason
breast-feeding for at least a
year is one of the best gifts
you can give your baby—and why taking special
care to maintain fatty acid
balance in your own body
is so crucial during and
after pregnancy.
Research studies have
shown that skin problems,
asthma, autoimmune disease,
unexplained rages and depression improve when fatty acid
balance is restored. Children with learning
disability, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity
and autism often improve when given
fats that promote this balance.
A hundred years ago most humans ate a
diet containing a ratio somewhere between 1
to 1 and 4 to 1 of two essential types of fats:
omega-6 and omega-3. When we describe a
nutrient as essential we mean that it is
needed for survival but can’t be made by the
body. Today the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is
closer to between 20 to 1 and 30 to 1.
The omega-6 fats include linoleic acid
(LA), found in sunflower, safflower, sesame
and corn oils; gamma-linolenic acid (GLA),
found in primrose, borage and black currant
oils; and arachidonic acid (AA), found in
meat, eggs, dairy products and fish that live
in warm waters. The omega-3 fats are found
in far fewer foods: as alpha-linolenic acid
(ALA) from flaxseed, walnut, canola and
pumpkin seed oils; eicosapentaenoic acid
( EPA) from some cold-water fish and algae;
and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from other
cold-water fish and algae.
The Transformation to Prostaglandins
The form in which you choose to eat your
fats—broiled salmon and flaxseeds as
opposed to margarine, corn oil, French fries
or chicken-fried steak—will have dramatic
effects on how you think, feel, learn and
remember. Your choice of fats also powerfully
influences the formation of
prostaglandins and these hormone like substances
regulate many body systems.
Prostaglandins E1 and E3 are generally
anti-inflammatory. Prostaglandin E2 escalates
the inflammatory process. If inflammation
escalates too far, tissue damage and free radical
overload can result. When there’s too much
PGE-2 and not enough PGE-1 and PGE-3,
inflammation can run amok. Allergies,
asthma, eczema, joint pain and autoimmune
diseases are all manifestations of inflammation that isn’t being shut off at the appropriate
time.
When you’re breast-feeding and giving up
PGE-1- and 3-forming fats to your baby, this
kind of imbalance can be created in your body.
In the worst case scenario, you aren’t even getting
enough to give your baby what he or she
needs. This could make him or her more vulnerable
to allergies, eczema, asthma and even learning disabilities and hyperactivity later in
life.
Several enzymes take part in the process
that transforms fats into prostaglandins. These
enzymes act as gatekeepers, channeling fats
into the making of this or that prostaglandin.
Like any other enzyme in the body, they
require specific nutrient coenzymes to do their
jobs. Aspirin and drugs like it work to reduce
inflammation by affecting these enzymes, temporarily
shutting down the production of both
inflammatory and anti-inflammatory
prostaglandins. Diet and supplements can be
used in a more specific way, enhancing the balance
of “good” and “bad” prostaglandins
rather than just shutting them all off.
The enzyme delta-6-desaturase acts on
linoleic acid (LA, from most vegetable, nut and
seed oils) to transform it to gamma-linoleic
acid (GLA). This enzyme also transforms
alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) into stearidonic
acid (SDA), which then is transformed into
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), the fat that supports
series 3 prostaglandin production and
brain cell formation. GLA is used to make the
anti-inflammatory series 1 prostaglandins and
also supports healthy nervous system function.
The activity of delta-6-desaturase is
affected by dietary factors. Trans-fatty acids
(see below) from hydrogenated oils, too much
saturated fat in the diet (found in meats, fried
foods, most junk food and dairy products),
high stress, too much alcohol or too much
sugar or refined flour in the diet all conspire to
slow down this enzyme.
The Notorious Trans-fatty Acids
Many processed foods contain trans-fatty
acids. These fats are notorious for slowing
down the activity of delta-6-desaturase. They
are manufactured from vegetable oils in a process called hydrogenation, which involves
the bombardment of liquid oils with hydrogen
atoms to make them solid and prevent rancidity.
The trans-fats have harmful effects on
the stability of cell membranes and the structure
of nerve and brain cells. They interfere
with the formation of anti-inflammatory
prostaglandins. Trans-fats pass readily into
your baby’s body through your milk supply and the more of them you eat, the more your
baby eats. They show up on food labels as partially
hydrogenated vegetable oils and are
present in almost all processed foods.
Large amounts of alpha-linolenic acid
(ALA) in your diet can also subdue delta-6-
desaturase activity. Some experts say that
adding lots of flaxseeds and flaxseed oil to your
diet will enhance the production of antiinflammatory
prostaglandins but we recommend
you use flax and other ALA-rich foods
with moderation. By suppressing the delta-6-
desaturase enzyme, ALA limits both “good”
and “bad” prostaglandin formation in much
the same way that aspirin does. Inhibiting all
of the prostaglandins doesn’t create balance,
only a different kind of imbalance.
DGLA (formed from GLA or entering your
baby’s body in breast milk) can go one of two
directions: either into “good” PGE-1 or into
arachidonic acid (AA). The activity of the
enzyme delta-5-desaturase dictates which way
this process goes. Delta-5-desaturase is activated
by the hormone insulin and suppressed
by the hormone glucagon. Insulin levels rise in
the body when you eat lots of sugars and
refined carbohydrates; glucagon levels rise
when you eat foods that contain balanced
amounts of fat and protein.
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), the omega-3
fat found in fish, also suppresses delta-5-
desaturase production. In other words, sugars
and refined carbohydrates increase AA and
“bad” prostaglandin production, while a diet
rich in healthy proteins, fats and deep-water
fish helps to funnel DGLA towards the production
of “good” prostaglandins.
Keep in mind that AA is a nonessential
fat—the human body can make it from other
fats from the age of about six months forward.
Your baby gets AA from your milk in her first six months of life. Besides vegetable oils, what
do you think is the major source of dietary fat
in the typical American diet? Meats, eggs and
dairy products, all of which contain lots of AA.
We don’t want to make AA into the bad guy
here—it’s an important nutrient and the cholesterol
found in meats, eggs and dairy products
is essential to your good health. However,
Americans tend to overeat AA containing
foods; we want to encourage you to strive for a
more balanced approach.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line here is that the balance of
omega-3 and omega-6 fats in your cells is
directly attributable to your diet and the nutritional
supplements you take. This balance,
along with how the other systems in your body
are working, influences the balance of inflammatory
and anti-inflammatory prostaglandins
made in your body. If your family has a history
of inflammatory disorders such as asthma,
allergy, heart disease, eczema or autoimmune
disease, you may have a genetic predisposition
to make more of the inflammatory
prostaglandins, and you may have to work a
little more to hit your balance point.
All of the enzymes that participate in the
transformation of fats to prostaglandins
require nutrient coenzymes. Vitamins B3, B6,
C, E, and A, along with magnesium and zinc,
are required in order for delta-6-desaturase to
make GLA from LA and EPA from ALA. The
transformation of EPA into DHA requires
biotin and B6.
| This article was excerpted
from the book A Natural
Guide to Pregnancy and
Postpartum Health: The
first book by doctors that
addresses pregnancy
recovery (Avery 2002). |
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| Dean Raffelock
is a doctor of chiropractic,
a diplomate
in acupuncture and
applied kinesiology
and a certified clinical
nutritionist with a
special interest in
helping mothers
recover their lost
nutritional reserves after giving birth. He lives
in Boulder, Colorado. |
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