Omega-3 fatty acids for maternal and infant health and development
The 2009 Omega-3 Centre Scientific Consensus Meeting ‘Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Maternal and Infant Health and Development’ was held in Sydney on Thursday 11 June.
The purpose of the meeting was to develop a scientific consensus report, which includes the papers presented at the meeting as well as recommendations for different stakeholders.
Please click here for a summary brochure of the report.
Please click here for the 2009 Consensus Report.
The experts discussed the role of omega-3s in:
- infant development;
- neurodevelopment of preterm infants;
- allergy prevention and treatment; and
- maternal health (including post-natal depression).
Current omega-3 intakes and government guidelines were also discussed.
We were fortunate to have Professor Bert Koletzko from the University of Munich, as our international expert, who presented the research background on the current European recommendations for long chain omega-3s in pregnancy, lactation and infancy.
Participating experts included:
- Professor Bert Koletzko, World Association of Perinatal Medicine Dietary Guidelines Working Group; Department of Pediatrics, University of Munich, Germany
- Professor Karen Simmer, Newborn Medicine and Deputy Chair of the Academic Board, UWA
- Professor Robert Gibson, Nutrition and Functional Food Science, University of Adelaide
- Dr Nina D’Vaz, School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia
- Dr Maria Makrides, Child Nutrition Research Centre, Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute, North Adelaide
- Professor Lynne Cobiac, Head, Dept of Nutrition and Dietetics in the School of Medicine, Flinders University
- Wendy Morgan, Dietitian and Nutrition Advisor, The Omega-3 Centre
- Prof Andrew Sinclair, Deakin University and Scientific Advisor, The Omega-3 Centre
- Dr Tony Helman, Chairman, Nutrition Advisory Group, RACGP and Editor in Chief, Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates (facilitator)
We would like to thank the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) and the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) for sponsoring the meeting. And, we thank a number of our member companies for their support of the meeting and publications - Nutricia, Nu-Mega, NZ King Salmon and Martek.
