{"id":667856,"date":"2026-05-13T08:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/667856\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T08:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:55:21","slug":"free-omega-3-testing-to-be-introduced-in-sa-for-pregnant-women-in-a-bid-to-prevent-preterm-birth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/667856\/","title":{"rendered":"Free omega-3 testing to be introduced in SA for pregnant women in a bid to prevent preterm birth"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Australian women in the early stages of pregnancy will now receive free omega-3 blood tests as part of a “world-first” initiative to prevent preterm births.<\/p>\n

The state government announced on Wednesday that SA Pathology and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) have collaborated to include the omega-3 test in routine blood tests taken by pregnant women.<\/p>\n

Health Minister Blair Boyer said it had taken “the culmination of about 20 years of research \u2026 between SAHMRI and SA Pathology”.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

SAHMRI has been researching the effect of omega-3 levels on pregnancy for 20 years.\u00a0 (ABC News: Eva Blandis)<\/p>\n

“That 20 years of research \u2026 has shown the very clear and direct link between omega-3 levels in pregnant women and the risk of a preterm baby,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This is world-leading research here, this is South Australia showing the rest of the world what can be done.”<\/p>\n

The free tests will be available to pregnant women from June 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SAHMRI Pregnancy and Newborn Health Program Lead Karen Best said that low omega-3 levels in pregnant women could result in preterm births and can cause lifelong health issues for the baby.<\/p>\n

“Omega-3 fats are really important in pregnancy for healthy development of the fetus,” Dr Best said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Best said low omega-3 levels during pregnancy can have lifelong health implications. (ABC News: Eva Blandis)<\/p>\n

“They can actually impact on the length of gestation.<\/p>\n

“We really need to test to find out those levels, you can’t tell by diet or looking at someone.”<\/p>\n

Dr Best said the program, which started in 2021, tested “around 37,000 women” and that “around 17 per cent” of them tested low for omega-3.<\/p>\n

“That’s around 1 in 6 women we could potentially prevent an early preterm birth,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It can make a big difference in South Australia.”<\/p>\n

Dr Best said the research focused on babies born at early preterm \u2014 which is less than 34 weeks.<\/p>\n

She said that those births can result in families spending a longer time in hospital, developmental problems and possible stays in neonatal intensive care.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Ms Haselgrove said the blood test gave her peace of mind.\u00a0 (ABC News: Eva Blandis)<\/p>\n

Bonnie Haselgrove, who gave birth to baby Evan six months ago, said being part of the trial “gave [her] the reassurance”.<\/p>\n

Ms Haselgrove said it was great to have that information available to her even though her “levels were fine and Evan was born just past term”.<\/p>\n

“Having the testing I think available for women will be great,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It was great to just have that extra information\u2026 [it] remind[s] you to think about what it is you are eating.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Australian women in the early stages of pregnancy will now receive free omega-3 blood tests as part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[106003,64,63,18994,12954,77565,14750,137,14262,1292,39767,2169,322485,4793,36500],"class_list":["post-667856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-antenatal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baby","tag-birth","tag-blood-tests","tag-fatty-acids","tag-health","tag-medical-research","tag-omega-3","tag-pathology","tag-pregnancy","tag-preterm","tag-womens-health","tag-world-first"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}