The long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3PUFA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) are beneficial for health. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of worldwide dietary recommendations for LC n-3PUFA across life-stages for general healthy populations from technical and scientific documents (TSD) that underpin food based dietary guidelines (FBDG) or TSD from expert groups. Using the Food and Agriculture Organization global online repository of FBDG and structured Google searches, forty-two TSD were identified for inclusion. Seventy-one percent of TSD included quantitative dietary intake recommendations which varied widely across life-stages with gaps for some groups, 62% included health messages related to LC n-3PUFA consumption, 33% discussed supplementation and 29% gave guidance on high intakes. The most frequently recommended intakes for adults were 250 mg/day EPA + DHA and 250 mg/day EPA + DHA plus an additional 100–200 mg/day DHA in pregnancy. This overview is useful for nutrition science, medical, industry and consumer communities since it identifies the recommendations available and the gaps of interest to national or international groups wishing to set dietary intake recommendations for LC n-3PUFA. Low dietary intake of LC n-3PUFA from seafood is a risk factor for suboptimal health. Intake recommendations can be challenging to achieve. Most countries for which data are available show that LC n-3PUFA intakes fail to meet recommended targets, highlighting the need for accessible, innovative, sustainable alternative EPA + DHA sources e.g. bio-enriched foods and supplements to support higher population intakes, LC n-3PUFA status and health benefits.

Research has shown that framing messages in terms of benefits or detriments can have a substantial influence on intended behavior. For prevention behaviors, positively framed messages have been found to elicit stronger behavioral intentions than negatively framed messages. Research also seems to indicate that certain contextual features contribute to the persuasiveness of a message. In the present research we test how message framing, contextually presented affect and the number of argument factors interact and contribute to the persuasiveness of a health related message. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that, in our prevention focused task, increasing the number of arguments increased behavioral intentions (BI) for positively framed messages when subjects were cued, via negative affect, to be attentive to the message. This resulted in a significant framing effect for messages with the maximum number of arguments and a negative background picture. An account of contextual influence in persuasive health messages is discussed.

The field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) has grown considerably in recent decades and is receiving increasing recognition from health policymakers. Today, DOHaD research aims to offer a comprehensive perspective on health and disease that traces how different life experiences shape health and disease risks over the entire life course. This integrative perspective opens up distinct possibilities for improving health. At the same time, it raises questions regarding the specific social responsibilities of DOHaD as a field and about possible pathways to a socially just and scientifically robust implementation of DOHaD knowledge in society. In this article, we review the history and key characteristics of DOHaD as a field of scientific knowledge production. We argue that based on its key assumptions – that life circumstances, health and disease are closely linked on a molecular scale – DOHaD is an inherently political research field. When tracing how life environments affect health and disease, it is of utmost social and political importance to specify how DOHaD understands and frames these life environments, which aspects of life worlds are included and which excluded, and how research results are interpreted and translated into health recommendations at individual, societal and policy levels. We suggest a number of ways by which the DOHaD community can constructively and responsibly meet the demands that these inherent characteristics place on knowledge production and dissemination in the field.