Breast Milk DHA·AA Test Kit
Breast Milk DHA·AA Test Kit
Breast Milk DHA·AA Precision Test Kit - Optimize Your Milk. Fuel Your Baby’s Brain & Vision.
Every mother's breast milk is unique. DHA (omega-3) and AA (arachidonic acid / omega-6) are essential fatty acids critical for your baby's brain development, eye health, and immune system. Because our bodies cannot make enough DHA on their own, milk levels depend directly on diet and supplements. CanAlt's at-home Breast Milk DHA·AA test kit can help reduce the guesswork - giving you and your practitioner clear, lab-verified data so you can nourish your growing baby with confidence.
Why Test Your Breast Milk?
Turn the unknown into a simple, actionable number.
Fuel Optimal Cognitive & Eye Health: DHA and AA build up rapidly in an infant's brain and retina during the first year of life. Help ensure your milk is meeting recommended targets.
Verify Your Diet & Supplements: Absorption of supplements varies widely. Are your prenatal, fish oil, or algal supplements working as well as expected? Fatty acid levels in milk shift within 2 to 3 weeks of changing your diet. Testing allows you to measure, modify, and monitor effectively.
Balance Your Omega Ratios: It's not just about getting enough DHA. Maintaining an optimal ratio between omega-6 (AA) and omega-3 (DHA) supports healthy growth and a balanced inflammatory response.
About This Test - What Can it Show?
What is it? Gas chromatography of fatty-acid methyl esters. Long-chain fatty-acid status for the nursing infant.
See a sample report (PDF)
What does the Breast Milk DHA & AA test tell a nursing mother? It measures DHA and AA (arachidonic acid, sometimes abbreviated ARA) in a small dried breast-milk spot and reports them as a percentage of total fatty acids against published reference targets. It shows whether the omega-3 reaching the baby through milk is meeting the levels described in the research for infant brain and visual development (and, because breast-milk DHA tracks the mother's diet, whether her own intake is enough). It is a nutritional and educational reference collected at home with no blood draw; interpretation of dietary adequacy and any potential changes are to be discussed with your practitioner.
This is not a health assessment or diagnostic test of the parent or the child. The provided report is intended as an educational reading and is not a diagnostic test. CanAlt Health Laboratories reports use observational past-tense voice.
Sample type: Expressed breast milk.
Who Is This Test For?
Nursing & Expectant Mothers: Take control of early-life nutrition by verifying that your milk delivers optimal fatty acid levels for your baby’s developmental milestones.
Plant-Based, Vegan, & Pescatarian Parents: Since standard omega-3 sources rely heavily on oily fish, mothers following plant-based diets can easily verify if algal supplements or other dietary adjustments are providing adequate DHA.
Parents of Preterm or Low-Birth-Weight Babies: Premature infants miss out on critical third-trimester fatty acid transfers in the womb. Monitor your milk closely to support accelerated brain and vision growth.
Lactation Consultants & Health Practitioners: While this is not a diagnostic test, mother's milk DHA test data may still be a helpful reference tool for IBCLCs, dietitians, and pediatricians building personalized nutritional recommendations for breastfeeding mothers.
How It Works
We ship the kit to you, after the has lab assigned it to you. Once you receive the kit, register it online to complete the test by providing necessary information and optional health history. A simple at-home spot sample - a few drops of breast milk on a card, no blood draw. Completely non-invasive and hassle-free. The test runs at Lipid Analytical Laboratories (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada).
RETEST CADENCE: Milk DHA equilibrates with maternal intake over 6-8 weeks. While breastfeeding exclusively, a re-test every 3 months tracks trajectory; sooner if intake has changed materially.
Test: Human Milk Fatty Acid Analysis / Dried Milk Spot (DMS) / Milk Lipid/Fat Composition Assay
Disclaimer: This breast milk fatty acid profile report is provided for wellness and educational reference only. The analytes reported here are not licensed under the Ontario Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, screening, or monitoring of disease. The measurement is performed within CanAlt's ISO 15189 accreditation. This report is a nutritional reference describing the fatty-acid composition of the submitted breastmilk sample. It is not a diagnostic test, and is not intended to recommend or replace any clinical, dietary, or therapeutic intervention. Discuss any change in diet or feeding plan with a qualified healthcare professional.
Supporting Studies
Women's Plasma Phospholipid DHA Concentration Directly Relates to Breast Milk and Infant DHA Status in the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study. Curr Dev Nutr. 2020 May 29. PMCID: PMC7257327.