Pregnant women taking fish oil supplements may be inadvertently making sports stars of their children, a new report suggests.

The small study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, suggests that fish oil has a notable impact on hand-eye coordination, which is crucial to success in tennis, golf and cricket, among other sports.

Australian cricketer Don Bradman managed to improve his hand-eye coordination by hitting a golf ball with a cricket stump for hours on end as a child. It was an exercise that allowed him to blossom into a peerless batsman and cemented his reputation as a true legend of the game.

But mothers stocking up on fish oil supplements are perhaps giving their offspring something of a head start.

Scientists examined 98 pregnant women, who were given either 4g of fish oil supplements or 4g of olive oil supplements from 20 weeks of pregnancy until the birth of their children. The children were then assessed on their growth and development, to ascertain whether or not the supplements had brought about any notable changes.

While there were no significant overall differences in language skills between the two groups, those whose mothers had supplemented their diet with fish oil performed much better in the hand-eye coordination tests than those whose mothers had taken olive oil.

The scientists believe that high cord blood levels of omega 3 fatty acids at birth are "strongly associated with good hand-eye coordination" and that omega 6 fatty acids - found in olive oil - are not at all associated with this skill.

Children of mothers who had taken fish oil supplements also performed better when assessed on comprehension, average phrase length and vocabulary.

Fish oil has become exceptionally popular with people of all ages, with many believing it can drastically reduce the pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

© Adfero Ltd