Fish Oil as Healing Brain Food
By Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP
Sometimes a subject comes up that is so
wide reaching in its impact that it can’t be ignored. As a special educator for
over thirty years, and a nutritionist, I am always on the lookout for ways to
relieve suffering in kids who are struggling with learning or behavior. It has
come to the point that evidence of the impact of fish oil on the brain and
nervous system of these struggling children is so large that I think it
deserves its own article.
Recent Trends
The incidence of children diagnosed with
food allergies (notice all the gluten-free and dairy-free items in grocery
stores as of late?), asthma, autism, Asperger’s, Sensory Processing
Dysfunction, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia has increased greatly in the
past five years. There is a disproportionate amount of boys in this increase.
UCLA School of Medicine has found that boys have a three times higher need for
DHA than girls.1 Why is this occurring? Let’s explore this more.
The incidence of depression has skyrocketed
in children and adults since World War II. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported that 11 percent of Americans over the age of 12 take
anti-depressants. What is going on? Researchers report that blood levels of
inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein are frequently elevated in
those diagnosed with depression. Could inflammatory changes in the brain be one
of the main drivers behind our epidemic of depression? This may also explain
why anti-depressant medications often don’t work for people with depression.
Emory University in Atlanta confirmed the depression/inflammatory connection.
Fortunately, there are natural ways to reduce inflammation. The most effective
way includes a diet high in Omega 3 fatty acids, specifically DHA in fish oil.2
Dr. Michael Norden, a practicing
psychiatrist in New York, uses essential fatty acids, particularly fish oils,
for his patients who are suffering from depression. Using fish oil in addition
to medication, and sometimes without medication, Dr. Norden reports impressive
relief from depression among his patients.3 Likewise, Dr. Andrew
Stall, a physician from Harvard, has found that the DHA in fish oil has proven
to be extremely helpful in patients suffering with post-partum depression,
bipolar, ADD, and ADHD.4
Autism
Many studies implicate inflammation of the
white matter of the brain as a common thread in children diagnosed on the
autism spectrum. However, one very unique aspect of fish oil is its effect on
the gaze aversion that afflicts so many children who have autism. The rods in
the retina of the eye are very responsive to the supplementation of DHA.
Dr. Mary Megson, a developmental
pediatrician in Richmond, Virginia, has found that the reason children with
gaze aversion will seem to look away from a parent’s face is because when
looking directly at the face, all they see is a white block. Thus, they use
their peripheral vision to at least get a glimpse of what they are looking at.
With proper amounts of naturally occurring Vitamin A and D in cod liver oil,
this gaze aversion disappears or is greatly reduced. (Dr. Megson states
strongly that it is important that synthetic Vitamin A in the form of retinyl
palmitate not be used.5)
Interestingly enough, I have found this
also to be the case in the children in my consultation practice who come to me
with gaze aversion. I have always found that with the proper amounts of DHA,
for which I use a specific cod liver oil, the gaze aversion is eliminated or
reduced by 85 percent. In fact, at the autism conferences at which I speak, I
have “before and after” pictures of children with autism, showing the lack of
gaze aversion after giving this vital nutrient. In addition to affecting gaze
aversion, parents report increased socialization, speech, bladder control, and
sensory processing after even a short time of implementing this
supplementation. It has also helped many children who are struggling with ADHD,
dyslexia, and bipolar disorder.6
Traumatic
Brain Injury
Probably the most dramatic healings
reported after the introduction of high amounts of fish oil have come from the
healing of traumatic brain injuries that were not responding to other
treatments.
When Peter Ghassemi’s son was lying in a
coma after a severe car accident, the doctor’s reported that though his son had
survived the accident, he likely would be in a non-reactive state for the rest
of his life. This dad reached out to an Army Colonel, Dr. Michael Lewis, for
help. Dr. Lewis, Founder of the Brain Health Education and Research Institute,
urged him to talk with his son’s doctors about using the same protocol that was
used for a young man who had experienced this same type of traumatic brain
injury. In that case the young man, Randal McCloy, was the sole survivor of a
mine disaster in West Virginia. McCloy, 26, had been trapped in the mine for
forty-one hours while the air around him filled with noxious methane and carbon
monoxide. His brain was riddled with damage from these potent toxins. McCloy’s
doctors were looking for ways to stem the tide of inflammation and cell death
occurring in his brain, and they embarked upon an unorthodox treatment regimen
that included high doses of fish oil. Dr. Julian Bailes, one of McCloy’s
doctors said that “the concept was to attempt to rebuild his brain with what it
was made from when he was an embryo in his mother’s womb. High doses of Omega-3
fatty acids (fish oil), since they mirror what is already in the brain, would
facilitate the brain’s own natural healing process. These fats are literally
the bricks of the cell wall in the brain.” Dr. Bailes referred to the National
Institutes of Health research that suggests that Omega-3 fatty acids may
inhibit cell death and could help in reconnecting damaged neurons.
Worthy of note is that in addition to
massive cell death, the protective sheath around McCloy’s nerve cells had been
stripped. The sheath, called myelin, allows brain cells to communicate with one
another. Amazingly, three months after saturating his brain with high doses of
fish oil, McCloy was walking and speaking.
Armed with this success story, Peter
Ghassemi urged his doctors to try this same, safe protocol with his son. The
result? Three months after his accident, Bobby Ghassemi was well enough to
attend his high school graduation. Bobby said: “The whole place was cheering
for me. . . . I took my graduation cap off and waved it around.” Peter Ghassemi
said, “His brain was damaged, and this was food for the brain.” Dr. Lewis
concluded: “The message that I’m trying to get across is, there’s more you can
do. If you add the fish oil, we can then begin to let the brain heal itself a
little more efficiently.”7
Dyslexia
In 2000, Dr. Jacqueline Stordy began to
research the connection between DHA and dyslexia. She performed a double-blind,
placebo-controlled study in which she studied children with ADD, dyslexia, and
dyspraxia. She found that when a protocol amount of DHA (from fish oil) was
given over a three-month period, statistically significant improvements were
made in these children’s focusing ability, reading ability, and coordination
and balance.8
Teeth
Too?
If you have a child who suffers with
multiple cavities, no matter what you do, you will be interested in Dr. Weston
Price’s research. A dentist, Dr. Price found that one way to prevent cavities
from forming in the mouths of his young patients was to make sure that they had
adequate levels of Vitamin D and the all-important Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 helps
to form the dentin, the porous tooth material underneath the enamel of the
teeth. This vitamin can be found in fermented foods; butter; meat from
grass-fed cows; hard cheeses, such as Gouda; and a soybean-fermented food
called Natto, as well as in supplements. As we know, good ol’ cod liver oil is
a great source of both Vitamins A and D.9
What can moms do to help their child get
these brain-healthy fats? Begin to reduce the bad fats that block healing by
including more good fats into a child’s daily diet with simple measures such as
adding some avocado in sandwiches, using real butter instead of margarine
(especially if the butter is from pasture-fed cows), eating real mayonnaise,
eating more whole grains and legumes versus white flour several days a week,
and lastly, making raw vegetables and a salad an everyday part of your
children’s diet.
If you choose to give a supplement such as
cod liver oil, fish oil, or Vitamins D3 or K2, it is best to check with the
child’s doctor before beginning any supplement program. For a list of the
amounts of fish oil, Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 that were used in these and
other studies, just type “Fish Oil Article” in the subject line of an email
message to me at this address: craft@ecentral.com.
Dianne Craft has a master’s degree in learning disabilities. She
speaks widely at homeschool conventions across the country. Her books, Brain
Integration Therapy Manual, Right Brain Phonics Program, and her DVDs, Understanding & Helping the Struggling Learner,
Teaching the Right Brain Child, Smart Kids— Who Hate to Write, and The Biology of Behavior have helped hundreds of families remove
learning blocks in their struggling children at home. Visit her website, http://www.diannecraft.org, for many
articles on children and learning and to download her free Daily Lesson Plans
for the Struggling Reader and Writer.
Endnotes:
1.
Melvyn Werbach, M.D. Nutritional Influences on Illness.
2.
Drs. Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden, “Healthy diet shown to cut risk of
depression,” www.denverpost.com,
October 23, 2012.
3.
Michael Norden, M.D., Beyond Prozac.
4.
Andrew Stoll, M.D., The Omega-3 Connection.
5.
Mary Megson, M.D., “The Biological Basis for Perceptual Deficits in Autism,” www.megson.com.
6.
Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP, “Essential Fatty Acids and the Brain,”
www.diannecraft.org/article-009.htm.
7.
Kate Rheaume-Blue, N.D., The Calcium Paradox.
8. B.
Jacqueline Stordy, Ph.D., American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71, Jan 2000.
9.
Stephanie Smith, “Fish Oils for Brain Injury,” www.cnn.com.
Copyright 2013, used with permission. All rights reserved
by author. Originally appeared in the February 2013 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the family education magazine. Read
the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com
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