Babys Only Essentials DHA Fatty Acid

Baby’s Only Essentials® Does Not Contain Martek's DHA

DHA & ARA long chain fatty acids are important for infant development. These fats are known to concentrate in the gray matter of the baby’s brain and eye retina starting in the third trimester of pregnancy. Breast milk continues to provide an abundance of these fatty acids once a baby is born. If breast milk is not available, then a baby requires a dietary source of these fats, either by synthesizing them from precursor fats (linolenic/alpha linoleic fatty acids) as found in Baby’s Only Organic® pediatric formulas; or by supplementing with Baby’s Only® DHA & ARA Fatty Acids which are "preformed" DHA & ARA fatty acids.

Baby’s Only Essentials® DHA & ARA Fatty Acid is naturally derived from the goodness of Egg Phospholipids using an aqueous (water) process. This differs from C. cohnii oil (algae) & M. alpina oil (fungus) used in organic infant formulas, which are treated with hexane solvent, acid, and bleach. Parents purchasing organic infant formula should be aware of the following:

In 2001, US infant formula manufacturers began adding a novel source of DHA and ARA that is manufactured by Martek Biosciences Corp. This DHA is derived from strains of algae; the ARA is manufactured using a non-toxigenic soil fungus. In 2006, organic infant formula companies began promoting their use of this same ingredient. The following is the manufacturing process described by Martek:

“The oil is then separated from the dried biomass by hexane extraction and centrifugation and/or filtration, followed by winterization. The hexane phase undergoes additional centrifugation/filtration to remove solids then the winterized oil is heated and treated with acid. Subsequently, the oil is treated with caustic, centrifuged, bleached and deodorized.”