| I don't have an issue with the conclusions about making babies smart. However it's different with maternal depression. If you read the original study, there was a 91% probability that the DHA reduced severe maternal depression. In the study the reduction in severe depression was 15%. However because 91% probability is less than the gold standard of 95% probability it was not conclusively proven. Given the study design, a reduction of 35% would have been required before it would have been found to be proven ie statistically significant. Unfortunately, showing an innumeracy that is common in the medical world, they claimed they had shown there is no relationship, which is plainly false. It is also worth pointing out that the study was prompted by earlier studies that showed eating fish had all sorts of benefits. But in the study they only gave one component of fish oil (DHA) in substantial quantities. Fish also contain protein, minerals, other vitamins, Omega3 EPA and many other beneficial nutrients. So by no means did they show no benefit from eating fish. Finally the study did have a major reduction in the incidence of pre-term deliveries. Some of the "no results" statistics were only obtained by artificially removing the effects of this reduction in premature births from the analysis. If you are concerned about, or have a history of pre-term delivery it is worth considering fish oil for this benefit alone. |