Omega-3 & Omega-6 are Essential to Good Health

Omega-3 and Omega-6 Nutritional oils are an essential part of our diet. They are known as essential because our bodies do not produce them independently, we must supplement them in our diets. Without supplementation of nutritional oils our bodies simply would not function properly.

Fish oil is an important source of Omega-3 fatty acids. It is often called the thinkers oil because they are rich in two powerful brain fat compounds called EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). These are both important compounds for the healthy function of the brain and retina. Fish oils also have been shown to reduce inflammation, increase blood flow, and help manage blood hormones. Omega-3 oils also reportedly prevent heart disease.

Omega-6 oils have been shown to reduce high cholesterol, blood pressure, inflammation, and arthritis. Preliminary clinical trials have shown possible uses of Omega-6 fatty acids for acne, alcoholism, allergies, attention deficit disorder, eye disease, and diabetes. Used together Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids play a critical role in brain function as well as normal growth and development.

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Natural Remedies for ADHD are Safer than Ritalin

A new study reveals that healthy kids who take Ritalin have a whopping 500 percent greater risk of sudden death. These aren’t kids with pre-existing heart conditions. The results would have been worse if they were included.

Ritalin is not a safe treatment for kids with ADHD. It is a stimulant, it causes the heart to beat faster, and that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Ritalin acts exactly like amphetamines such as crystal meth and cocaine.

In spite of evidence that it could stunt their growth, and cause irreversible brain damage and that it is linked to serious cardiovascular events, the FDA remains silent.

Still, the FDA refuses to take action. No new warnings are planned and prescriptions for Ritalin continue to spiral upward.

Objections to the FDA’s sluggishness are even starting to appear in conservative medical journals like JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a recent editorial, they criticized the FDA by saying the FDA is “interpreting the results cautiously.”

Plus, JAMA notes that the FDA funded and approved the design of the study. Only when the results came out did they have a problem with the design of the study.

This is the big point for all of us: Doctors hand out Ritalin prescriptions every day but too often parents aren’t warned of the dangerous side effects.

ADHD is still the most commonly diagnosed disorder in children.

What’s more, studies show that the drugs don’t work. The same study that found Ritalin stunts kids’ growth also found that it has no beneficial effect on behavior over a three-year period.

So what do you do for children who have trouble concentrating, focusing, or calming down? Here are a few easy, safe, and natural ways to bring kids “to attention” without endangering their mental and physical health.

Ramp up the amount of omega-3 in their diet. Studies show that many children with ADHD don’t get enough omega-3. Cod liver oil and fish-oil capsules deliver the two kinds of omega-3’s the body needs.

You can also get them to eat more lean meats, eggs, and nuts, preferably free-range, grass-fed and organic. These are all great sources of omega-3.  1,000 mg of omega-3’s daily is recommended for children with ADHD.

Pine bark extract is another natural supplement that works. One European study using pycnogenol, an organic compound found in the bark of the French maritime pine tree, showed that after only one month, children’s behavior improved significantly on as little as 1 mg per day.

Finally, certain naturally occurring amino acids can treat ADHD.

One of them is 5-HTP. It’s a precursor to serotonin, one of the chemicals in the brain that relieves anxiety and depression (popular antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, and Lexapro all boost serotonin levels). 50 to 100 mg three times per day with meals is recommended.

Another is Tyrosine. It works like 5-HTP, increasing levels of various chemicals in the brain connected to mood and the ability to concentrate. The optimal dose is 5,000 mg per day for children and up to 10,000 mg per day for adults.

These are natural and safe alternatives, they aren’t harmful or addictive, and unlike all those ADHD drugs, they actually work. They are also easy to find and available at local & online health food stores.

Fish oil may flow in the fountain of youth

The Spanish Explorer Ponce De Leon spent countless years looking for the fountain of youth. The answer wasn’t the water but what was swimming in it. Yet another study shows that fish oil may be a key to longer life.

Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil may slow the ageing process by slowing the rate that telomeres shorten. Telomeres are the structures at the end of a chromosome that affect cell stability and replication. A growing body of research shows that the longer the telomeres, the longer the life of cells, which ultimately means slower ageing.

“Telomere length is an emerging marker for determining biological age, and many scientists are interested in understanding the impact of influences such as age, exercise, oxidative stress, diseases like diabetes and heart disease, and how interventions like dietary supplements, statins and omega-3 fatty acids impact length,” said the study, which was lead by Dr. Ramin Farzaneh-Far, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “We are excited to identify omega-3 fatty acids as a potentially protective factor that may slow down telomere shortening,” he said.

Previous research indicates heart patients with a higher intake of Omega-3s as have higher survival rates. Now researchers may know why. The new telomere Omega-3 research validates this and other studies on the importance of Omega-3 with regards to life expectancy. A study published in the April 2009 edition of PLoS Medicine, an online journal, showed that Omega-3 deficiencies may contribute to as many as 97,000 deaths annually.

“We know that daily doses of Omega-3 EPA/DHA can help with many conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, and we’re committed to increasing consumer awareness about the drastic Omega-3 EPA/DHA deficiency in the Western diet. However, these recent studies validate that Omega-3 EPA/DHA is more than just part of a healthy diet … it’s a matter of life and death,” said Lori Colvert, Ocean Nutrition Canada’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

For the telomere study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers evaluated 608 patients with stable heart disease (from the Heart and Soul Study from September 2000 and December 2002) and followed up on their status for a median period of six years.

Researchers evaluated participants for Omega-3 fatty acid levels at the start and throughout the study. They also isolated DNA from the blood and evaluated the length of the telomere of the leukocyte, a type of blood cell. Telomeres in patients with the lowest Omega-3 levels shortened 2.6 times faster than patients with the highest levels of Omega-3s. The study only looked at blood levels of Omega-3s, not dosage.

Cardiologists note that this study was the first to look at telomere length over time. The question remains whether the study results apply to healthy people because the researchers only looked at patients with heart disease. Though according to Farzaneh-Far, telomeres shorten in everyone, so Omega-3s could indeed benefit most people.

By Kimberly Lord Stewart @ functionalingredientsmag.com
For more on telomeres, see Nobel Prize News
For more information on Omega-3 fatty acids please visit our website at www.AmericanNutrition.com