How Can Omega-3 Prove to Be a Boon for Your Child?

When it comes to maintaining optimal health, people often view fats as a nutritional villain. In reality, fats are essential to a healthy diet that supports various physical and cognitive functions.

People are advised to lower their consumption of unhealthy fat, but it often gets misinterpreted as fat in general. If you’ve been keeping your kids away from adequate fat content from their daily diet, you may unknowingly prevent them from achieving healthy well-being.

Parents have recently started discovering the role healthy fats play in their kids’ well-being and looking for ways to fulfill their daily requirements. While some prefer fulfilling this nutritional requirement through food items, others are turning to omega-3 for children.

These supplements can become an excellent source of omega-3, especially when the regular diet doesn’t contain items rich in these healthy fatty acids. If you’re new to omega-3 and its impact on kids, this article can help you decide whether you should give these fatty acids to your kids.

Omega-3 for Children- Things Every Parent Must Know

Before you include anything new in your kid’s diet, you must clearly understand what it is.

So, before jumping to omega-3’s role in a kid’s holistic development, let’s start by understanding what these fatty acids exactly are.

Simply put, omega-3 refers to healthy fatty acids that the human body cannot produce on its own. They are instrumental to every child’s overall growth because they assist in numerous health functions like maintaining heart health, boosting immunity, supporting brain development, etc.

There are three types of main omega-3 fatty acids, namely –

• Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA),
• Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA),
• Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).

You can get ALA from various plant-based food items like nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and certain vegetables. This fatty acid doesn’t directly contribute to bodily functions but works by converting ALA into DHA and EPA in small quantities.

People mostly fulfill their omega-3 requirements by consuming food, like mackerel, salmon, tuna, krill oil, anchovies, sardines, herring, or food fortified with omega-3.

If your kid’s diet doesn’t fulfill the daily requirement, you can always turn to omega-3 for children in supplement form. We recommend consulting your kid’s dietician or practicing health professional to pick the best omega-3 supplement aligning with their requirements.

How Does Omega-3 Benefit Children?

Like other nutrients, omega-3 is also crucial for maintaining a kid’s optimal health. Its contributions aren’t limited to a few benefits, but we have handpicked the top ways in which omega-3 supports children’s health. So, let’s quickly explore the top benefits discussed below.

●       May Improve ADHD Symptoms

Some kids have ADHD, a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by hyperactivity, lack of focus, and impulsiveness.

Children diagnosed with ADHD find it challenging to pay attention in lectures, finish assigned tasks, remain organized, resolve conflicts with acquaintances, etc.

According to a study published in the reputed National Library of Medicine, omega-3 fatty acids improve memory, hyperactivity, attention, impulsivity, and other ADHD symptoms. While additional scientific studies are still being conducted to support omega-3’s role in improving ADHD symptoms, there are enough reviews that present omega-3 as a promising way to improve ADHD.

●       Promotes Better, Sound, & Rejuvenated Sleep

Many kids experience trouble sleeping, which hampers their brains to recover fully and prepare for the following day.

There are many reasons behind such sleep quality, but overstimulation, poor nutrition, and insufficient body movement can be considered the top contributors.

A study was conducted to find whether omega-3 for children can help reduce sleep problems, and it showed promising results. It found that giving 600 mg of DHA over 16 weeks helped participating kids get nearly 1 hour of more sleep every night.

●       May Reduce Asthma

It can be difficult for parents to see their kids struggling to breathe. It happens when airways become inflamed and narrowed, disrupting the normal flow of breathing. This chronic lung condition is characterized by chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, etc.

According to some studies, omega-3 supplements can improve these symptoms. One such study conducted over ten months concluded that taking fish oil capsules regularly decreased asthma symptoms. If your kids live in a polluted environment and exhibit signs of this chronic condition, giving them omega-3 supplements may benefit. However, consult certified medical professionals before adding any new supplement to your kid’s diet.

●       Improves Brain Health

DHA makes up a significant portion of our brain’s grey matter responsible for information processing and learning. Hence, any deficiency in DHA can hamper a kid’s optimal learning process.

These fatty acids are the brain’s building blocks that support various cognitive functions and improve brain signaling. While numerous studies show omega-3 for children in good light, you can explore specific long-term and short-term studies that mention how omega-3 helped improve kid’s learning ability, memory, focus, impulse control, and planning.

Upgrade Your Child’s Overall Well-being with Omega-3

Everyone wants to maintain healthy well-being, but the lack of nutritional knowledge prevents most from achieving it. This is especially true for kids as they are more inclined towards food items that taste good over the options that are healthy for them. It is why parent’s active participation in their dietary choices is important. If you’re actively making healthy food choices for your kids but still not seeing visible results, consider evaluating their omega-3 intake.

These fatty acids are responsible for most of your kid’s physical and cognitive functions, and fulfilling this requirement can have a major positive impact. While various scientific researches position omega-3 for children in a good light, we recommend parents consult doctors for personalized supplement recommendations.