Nutritional supplements

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to novel nutritional methods and compositions containing essential fatty acids which optimize embryonic, fetal and child neurological development and provides improved nutritional support for women prior to and during lactation. Further the methods and compositions improve gestational length and birth weight. The nutritional methods and compositions are also intended for use by women to optimize infant neurological development and provide improved nutritional support for women prior to, during and after lactation.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation application of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 021,344, filed Dec. 22, 2004, said application being a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 457,647, filed Jun. 10, 2003, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,609; said application being a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 885,158, filed Jun. 21, 2001 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,666; said application being a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 323,159, filed Jun. 1, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,846, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0002]The present invention is directed to novel methods for administering compositions containing essential fatty acids for use by pregnant and / or lactating women to optimize infant neurological development, length of gestation, and birth weight and to provide improved nutritional support for women prior to, d...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Failure to ingest the appropriate amount of essential fats daily may result in improper digestion, which in turn may cause inadequate absorption of other nutritional factors, including vitamins and minerals.

Furthermore, the body cannot produce all the necessary fatty acids it requires.

Thus a failure in the intake of the proper amount of EFAs can have wide ranging negative implications.

Furthermore, insufficient daily intake of EFAs can lead to various levels of failure in a woman's reproductive system.

These shifts in circulating EFAs, have been implicated in low birth weight, shorten gestation and in the occurrence of birth defects.

For example, a nutritional deficiency in a woman may severely limit the quantity of breast milk which is produced or, in some cases, entirely prevent lactation from occurring.

Women may not consume enough food for many reasons, including the desire to lose all of the weight gained during pregnancy.

But restricting food and energy in this fashion will result in breast milk which is lacking in nutrients, low quantities of breast milk or, in the worse case scenario, no breast milk at all.

Nutritional deprivation in the mother generally reduces the quantity, more so than the quality, of the milk.

Moreover, quantities of particular vitamins, such as B6, B12, A and D, in breast milk will actually decline in response to an inadequate intakes by the mother.

Full term babies who are not fed enough linoleic acid suffer from dermatosis and growth failure.

Fatty acid deficiency in a breast-feeding infant is a hazard of long term low fat parental dieting.

These supplements will result in the ruminate producing a milk very high in unsaturated fats.

However, none of the above formulations provide women with essential fatty acids in amounts and proportions necessary to optimize infant neurological development.

Further, the prenatal nutritional supplements containing vitamins and minerals are entirely lacking in essential fatty acids.

In the case of the enriched ruminant milk, while this milk may be a good source of fatty acids for adults, ruminant milk is not recommended for infants because even supplemented formula cannot match the immunological benefits of breast milk.

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