Functional ingredients can boost a pregnant woman's mood.
Functional ingredients - particularly omega 3 - have been associated with a "major" impact on the mood of pregnant women, reports Nutraceuticals World.
The nutraceutical business publication cites research in pharmaceutical magazine Epidemiology that shows a higher prevalence of depression in pregnant women who eat little or no seafood.
In western countries, depression is not an unusual characteristic of pregnancy - but is virtually non-existent in the east where seafood intake is higher, the study reveals.
Researchers add that depression can have an adverse effect not only on the mother but also on her unborn child.
A test of nearly 10,000 women, whose omega 3 intake was calculated based on their seafood consumption, saw participants with very little of the fatty acid in their diet were 50 per cent more likely to experience depression than those with three portions of fish among their meals per week.
Executive director of the Global Organization for EPA/DHA Omega 3s Adam Ismail recently wrote in the nutraceutical business publication that the fatty acids are still in their infancy as functional ingredients, despite the first products specifically containing them having been launched 21 years ago.
