Alex Shvartsman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 >what does AA stand for?
 >
 >My wife is pregnant and NOT paleo.  Pizza, Mexican and Italian food are her
 >preferences.  I have her supplement with DHA 500mg, EPA 200mg daily. Optimize
 >our child's brain development since I do not think she gets enough in her
 >diet. Do you think this is a mistake?

I think DHA supplementation for a pregnant woman is an *excellent* idea.

With EPA I'm not so sure because EPA is imune suppressing. I would
eventually skip it.
If you have a source of very good quality flax oil or hemp oil
(not tasting bitter! - not rancid)
she might enjoy to put small amount on her pasta or macican dishes.
I find a little of this oil greatly enhances the taste of cooked vegetables
and tomato sauces.

AA is arachidonic acid and is as important for the brain as DHA.
Too much DHA in the diet can displace AA and cause AA defficiency in brain
cells.
I think it's simply a question how much DHA to take.
Ben Best recommends 1-2 grams per day as 4-6 grams was without deleterious
effects in a study.
Cordaine mentiones in his DHA article that a pregnant or lactating mother
would need about 100mg of additional DHA for the baby.

I'd suggest to read Ben Bests articles. They are great.
http://benbest.com/health/essfat.html is the basis (alas it's somewhat hard
to print out with the graphics).
and http://benbest.com/health/dha.html specifically on DHA.
I think the information regarding the danger of AA defficiency was also
found at Ben Best but I'm not sure.

regards

Amadeus