Omega 3
Essential Fatty Acids
by LeQuest
Roughly 60% of the human brain is fatty tissue and 20% of this tissue is omega 3.
The three essential fatty acids that make up the omega 3 family are DHA, EPA and DPA.
Studies have proven that as well as protecting the heart, these acids are essential building blocks for the retina and brain.
EPA and DPA are excellent anti-inflammatory for the heart.
EPA and DPA repair damaged vessel walls, giving them elasticity.
EPA and DPA help control and reduce blood lipids.
EPA and DPA contribute to the smooth flow of blood and help make the heart strong.
EPA and DPA are blood clot deterrents.
DHA - (Mainly veggie based omega 3) is a necessary building block for the brain.
A high natural supply is found in mother's breast milk.
EPA - (Mainly fish omega 3) helps take away blood clots and inflammation.
Clinical tests have shown results with a number of of various conditions from joint inflammation, to MS, to skin disease.
DPA - (Mammalian source - almost completely)
Is ONLY FOUND in sufficient amounts of human breast milk and seal oil. Roughly 33% of the omega 3 fatty acids in human blood can be linked to DPA to the point that EPA can be converted in the vessel walls as the agent.
Fish and plant based Omega 3 in one's diet is excellent. It is NOT however a mammalian source, which we need as mammals. This source CAN ONLY BE FOUND in mother's milk and seal oil.
LeQuest OMEGA 3 believes that the proportions of DPA, DHA and EPA in its refined product, contribute to it's noted benefits.
RICHARD RAVENHAWK is a licensed distributor for Lequest Omega3. You can contact him for more information on how you can get some for your very own. It is one of the HEALTHIEST choices you could make for yourself and your family.
10 top diseases related to deficiency in Omega 3 :
Cancer
Heart Disease
Stroke
Alzheimer's
Diabetes
Obesity
Cardiovascular disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Breast Cancer
A.D.H.D.
Richard Ravenhawke is a licensed distributor for Lequest Omega 3. The ONLY source of mammalian Omaga3. This product is one of the best things you could do for you health. Most people experience a noticeable difference in 3-4 days. Contact Richard for more info.
Fish oils are supposed to boost our brainpower. But do the facts really stack up? We went in search of the evidence.
Elliot is nine years old. A year ago, he was falling behind in his schoolwork, particularly reading – which he found a struggle. He had little interest in studying and would crash on the sofa to watch TV when he got home from school.
But over the past year, a dramatic change has taken place in Elliot. He has soared through the Harry Potter books and now heads to the library after the school bell has sounded.
Elliot has been taking part in a scientific study on more than 100 children from 12 Durham schools. The children were required to take a course of capsules with their meals for the duration of six months.
“His reading jumped 18 months [over the trial period]. He’s just a lot more interested in everything. He’s even developed an interest in classical music,” says Sheila, Elliot’s mother.
Problems vanished
Over the course of the year, Elliot's academic problems disappeared.
Mark, 10, who is in the year above Elliot at Timothy School in , Durham, experienced similar changes.
“When I first heard about it, I didn’t think Mark had any problems. He’d only been taking them a few weeks when I started to notice changes. His handwriting became better and his teachers said he was joining in more in class discussions,” says Mark’s mother Christine.
“At home, he started asking loads of questions. It was quite hard work for me.”
The capsules given to children in the trial contained oils high in Omega 3 fats, which are found naturally in oily fish such as mackerel, salmon and sardines and in some plant crops such as rape seed.
Omega 3s and another group called Omega 6s belong to a family of fats known as essential fatty acids. The right balance of these two types of fatty acids is important for the healthy functioning of many parts of the body.
Heart of the matter
Omega 3 fatty acids are known to help prevent heart disease and they can improve the condition of some patients with depression and bipolar disorder. But their effects on brainpower have not been investigated in the same depth.
The Durham trial was conducted by Dr Alex Richardson, a senior research fellow in physiology at Mansfield College, University of Oxford and Madeleine , a special educational psychologist for Durham Local Education Authority.
The results have not yet been published, but they are expected to show a statistically significant improvement in school performance in the group of children given Omega 3 supplements. This does not mean that every child from the treatment – many did not. But according to, about 40% of children showed some clear improvement.
In the dark
The children were selected on the basis that they were not fulfilling their potential at school, but their general ability was normal. They were subjected to regular tests to measure their co-ordination, concentration and academic ability.
The study followed an experimental method called a double-blind controlled trial. Half the children were given capsules of Omega 3 fatty acids, and half given placebos. Neither the children nor those evaluating their progress knew which group was taking which treatment.
Richardson believes that conditions such as – by poor physical co-ordination – dyslexia and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) form a spectrum of associated conditions with some of the same underlying causes.
“Clinically, there is about 50% overlap between and dyslexia,” says Richardson, “and both show a similar overlap with ADHD.”
The dramatic effects of Omega 3 fatty acids on the children in the Durham trial may hinge on several functions of fatty acids in the brain.
Relay race
Electrical signals through the brain get passed from one brain cell, or neuron, to the next – much like the baton handed between runners in a relay race. In the changeover, a signal needs to leave one brain cell at a point called the synapse and cross a physical gap before entering the neuron.
For signals to enter a neuron, they need to pass through the walls that surround them. These walls, known as cell membranes, consist almost entirely of fats. About 20% are essential fatty acids like Omega 3s
Embedded in brain cell membranes are structures called ion channels that open to allow the flow of electrical signals into the cell or close to prevent the flow. They perform this function by changing their shape.
One theory is that a specific Omega 3 fatty acid called ) makes the membrane that holds these channels more elastic, making it easier for ion channels to change shape.
If there is not enough available, the membrane substitutes it with a molecule called (n-6), which cells regard as the next best thing. This substitute is almost identical to , but a tiny difference in the molecular structure of (n-6) makes it vastly less flexible.
The substitution of for a less flexible substitute may make it harder for ion channels to change shape within the fatty membrane, hindering their control over electrical impulses entering the cell.
No substitute
This substitution may also affect structures called G-proteins that sit on the inside of the cell membrane and are a vital link in the transmission of signals between brain cells. G-proteins help molecules on the outside of the membrane communicate with molecules on the inside.
The substitution of (n-6) can cause a one thousand-fold reduction in the ability of G-proteins to perform this function, according to Dr the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism () in Bethesda, US.
This effect may be particularly important before birth; when connections are being created in the brain of the developing . It is here in the womb that the replacement of with its less supple alternative may have its most far-reaching effects.
“A good analogy is if you’re building a new [road network] and you don’t have the right type of concrete, you might choose an inferior substitute,” says
“You might choose to make inadequate roads. But if you have the optimal fatty acid, it’s like having the optimal concrete – you make the right roads in the right places first time round.
“If you get the right type of concrete later, you can rip things up and re-lay the road, but it’s more expensive.”
But even if you’re prepared for the effort and expense, the benefits of repairing intrinsically flawed connections in the brain may be limited. The clearest indication of this came in 2001, in a study led by Dr Richard of the University of Melbourne, Australia.
team showed that laboratory rats deprived of essential fatty acids at specific stages in their development developed high blood pressure that remained elevated for the rest of their lives. The brain’s control over the autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular system was permanently affected.
However, studies such as the Durham trial suggest that all is not lost, and that boosting Omega 3 intake may still confer significant benefits.
The Omega 3 fatty acid used in the Durham trial was acid (EPA). It may play an equally crucial role in brain function. EPA is found only at very low levels in the cell membranes; it seems to have a functional, rather than a structural role.
“It can improve brain function at the very simplest level, by improving blood flow,” says Richardson.
EPA helps the body manufacture important, hormone-like substances called Some of these substances help improve blood flow around the body. They also seem to have controlling effects on hormones and the immune system, both of which are known to affect brain function.
Western diets contain very little Omega 3 fatty acid. Hydrogenation, the process used to give foods a long shelf life, removes them. But certain people may break down Omega 3 fatty acids faster than others. Some of the children who showed greatest improvement in the Durham trial might fall into this category.
But there is disagreement over which Omega 3 fatty acid would perform best as a treatment. US researchers such as tend to , while British researchers, of which Richardson is one, mostly regard EPA as the best option.
But some quarters of the medical research community are deeply about the usefulness of so-called complementary therapies - the category of treatment in which fish oil supplements are often lumped.
Professor Richard Olson, a developmental psychologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder and an expert on the treatment of dyslexia, urged caution over a ‘quick fix’ syndrome towards the treatment of learning disorders.
“I haven’t read the research, but I have a slight feeling of unease because in the field of dyslexia particularly, one quick fix after another seems to pop up and then fall by the wayside,” says Olson.
“I hope they’re right. I’m just of easy answers because there have been various schemes in the past and parents [with dyslexic children] go out and spend a lot of money on them. For many children with dyslexia, improvement can only be achieved with a lot of hard work,” he adds.
Clinical value?
Professor Maggie , a psychologist at the University of York also warned about the use of Omega 3s as a treatment for dyslexia.
“These studies tend to show statistically significant effects, but it’s not clear if there are any clinical effects or real improvements for the children involved.
"[Omega 3s] are not a treatment for dyslexia. They might have some slight benefit on children with attention disorder, and some of them might have dyslexia. But there are a lot of provisos,” says .
While researchers have yet to fully resolve how the balance of different Omega 3s affects brain function, one point on which they agree is that studies into their effects need to be widened beyond children.
“To my knowledge, there are no studies linking Omega 3s to improvements in cognition or neuropsychological function in otherwise healthy adults,” says
Does he think this is a promising area for future plainly: “Yes.”
A flurry of products - eggs, fruit juices, breads, margarines and spreads and kids' drinks - topped up with omega-3 has been arriving on the supermarket scene with often extravagant accompanying claims. 'The nation's children are in need of an omega-3 boost,' says one. 'Helping brains, helping hearts' claims another. 'Eating long-chain omega-3s like those found in salmon may protect you from sunburn', another even suggests. At the same time an advertisement for milk with added omega-3 has been reprimanded for giving the impression it can help increase children’s intelligence.
Politicians have raised the idea that all schoolchildren should be given omega-3 supplements, and the Food Standards Agency () has announced it will weigh up the research that has been done into whether and how diet and nutrition affect children's and performance.
Years of research appeared to confirm that regularly eating oily fish or taking fish oil supplements (the best source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids) cuts the risk of heart disease. Yet, in early 2006, a review published in the British Medical Journal by scientists at the University of East Anglia raised doubts about these claims.
After existing research into omega-3, its surprise conclusion was that there was little evidence that fish oil could reduce the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke. Indeed, it even suggested that fish oil supplements could increase the risk.
However, this review shouldn't change the prevailing attitude to omega-3 - it doesn't alter the Government's advice to eat oily fish. Even the author of the report, Lee Hooper of the University of East Anglia's School of Medicine and Health Policy, isn't calling for these recommendations to change, but suggests that there should be more research to find out whether it is right to recommend large amounts of fish oil to people with heart disease.
There are three types of fat: saturated; monounsaturated (olive oil is the best known); and, even more healthy, polyunsaturated. - of which sunflower oil, for example, is a good source - divide into two groups of essential fatty acids (EFAs): omega-3 and omega-6.
n the typical UK diet the amount of omega-6 - good for lowering blood cholesterol and for the skin - outweighs omega-3 several times over. Ideally we should be getting more omega-3 than we are, but our bodies can't produce it, so we rely on our diets for it.
There are several types of omega-3 fatty acids and they're not all equal. It's the long-chain omega-3s, EPA and , that the fuss is about, and these are the ones found mostly in oily fish. They have anti-inflammatory properties - good for joints and aches - and the overwhelming evidence is that they help reduce the risk of heart disease.
The long-chain fatty acids help the development of brain tissue, nerve growth and the retina in unborn babies. But whether they really can help every child knuckle down to their work and get their exam answers right is still a matter for more research.
A portion of oily fish contains 2-3g of long-chain omega-3. The recommends eating two portions of fish, one of which should be an oily fish such as sardines, mackerel or salmon, each week. It's not much, but most of us don't manage to eat even that amount - which means that many of us may be deficient in omega-3.
Whether an omega-3 supplement can make a difference to otherwise healthy and well nourished children or adults is debatable. Even where children are nutritionally disadvantaged, according to Dr Joan , nutrition researcher at the University of Leeds, omega-3 is not the most important issue - obesity is. 'It is crazy to give children a supplement if they’re eating a diet of junk food,' she says.
Fish oils are the best source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Soya, hemp, flax and pumpkin seeds and oils, walnuts and leafy green vegetables - all healthy foods with other benefits too - contain omega-3 fatty acids - but they are the shorter-chain ones.
Our bodies can convert these into the long-chain and fatty acids that do most good, but not very efficiently, according to independent nutritionists. One reason that sales of organic milk have shot up is that a study found it has much higher levels of omega-3 than non-organic milk. However, these too are the shorter-chain omega-3s.
Spreads, juices and milk with added omega-3 - in other words artificially enriched with fish oils - are now widely available. They often play on our anxieties about diet and give the impression that omega-3 is a new ‘wonder food’.
Though ideally our diets should contain more omega-3, you might have to eat or drink a lot of these products to meet the Government's target. For instance, if you're drinking a glass of juice containing 20 per cent of the recommended daily intake of long chain omega-3, as some claim they contain, you'll still have to get the rest from somewhere else, or drink five glasses of juice.
Oily fish is undoubtedly good for us and should be included in the diet. Eating a varied diet of fresh, unprocessed food is always better than thinking that food with supplements will make up for basic deficiencies.
Given that one portion of salmon or mackerel, sardines or fresh (not canned) tuna a week should provide us with enough of the omega-3 we need, we as consumers should all make more effort to eat more oily fish – within guidelines - rather than to reassure ourselves by buying (often expensive) products with added omega-3.
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