Take Omega 3 Supplements For Better Brain Health. Your Brain Will Thank You

Many people are aware of the health benefits of increasing your intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA. But fewer people are aware of the strong links between Omega 3 and brain function, or in other words how to improve brain function and memory, combat ADD or ADHD or improve emotional disorders like depression.
Many scientists consider that the crucial link between early human beings like the Neanderthal, and modern human beings was the point at which we began to eat seafood.
Seafood, and particularly oily fish, contains the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA, DHA being the most important of these.
Your brain is about 60 percent fat, and DHA is the most important of those fats. An adequate supply of DHA is one of the most crucial factors in facilitating the transmission of brain signals. But if your brain doesn't have enough DHA it won't work as well.
When the early human beings began eating seafood their brains began to develop because of the increase in intake of DHA. Neanderthals, for example, primarily ate red meat, which supplied very little DHA. But when the early humans began eating seafood their brains began to develop, according to hypotheses, as a result of this intake of DHA from fish.
But if plenty of DHA is important for brain development surely a lack of DHA will inhibit brain function? And evidence showing that this is the case.
Scientific evidence showing that an ample supply of DHA to the brain improves cognitive ability, improves memory, improves mental development in children, helps improve learning difficulties such as ADD and ADHD and can also help improve outcomes with emotional problems such as depression.
In fact many medical professionals are now suggesting that one of the most important things a pregnant woman can do is to maintain an adequate supply of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids in her diet because of the strong links between Omega 3 and brain development in the infant.
(Not to mention the benefits for the mothers own health).
So whilst many people focus on the general health benefits of taking Omega 3 supplements, for example the reduction in your risk of dying from heart attack, the health benefits to your brain may be as significant or even more so.
And it doesn't just apply to the young. There is also increasing evidence that plenty of Omega 3 in the diet can help the brain function of the elderly by reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
So next time you're wondering where you put the car keys, try and remember to write a simple notation on your next shopping list.
Buy Omega 3 supplements. And of course remember to take them every day. Your brain will thank you for it.
And to view two fascinating videos about the role of Omega 3 in brain development for children with learning difficulties visit my main website.

Could A Postpartum Depression Strategy Include Omega 3 Supplementation?

Postpartum depression, and for that matter depression during pregnancy, is relatively common. It's difficult to get reliable statistics for postpartum depression as it is often not reported.
Estimates are however that anywhere up to 25% of women have suffered some form of major depressive symptoms during or after pregnancy.
Treatments for postpartum depression often include antidepressant drugs, and these can have nasty side-effects, possibly even on the fetus when taken during pregnancy.
Studies have suggested that a deficiency of DHA, one of the most important of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids, may well lead to the onset of major depressive disorders during pregnancy and after pregnancy.
Studies have also suggested that taking Omega 3 supplements during and after pregnancy may well have an ameliorating effect on postpartum depression.
There is also emerging and significant evidence that taking Omega 3 supplements, or increasing the Omega 3 intake in other ways, for example by eating Omega 3 rich fish, may well help reduce the symptoms of depression generally.
Could Omega 3 supplementation therefore become one of the important elements in treatments for postpartum depression?
A new study begun in June 2011 is to examine this very question, namely the role of Omega 3 essential fatty acids in depression during pregnancy and postpartum depression, or what is sometimes called postnatal depression.
This study is to examine the role of both DHA and EPA, the 2 most important of the essential fatty acids known as the Omega 3 fats, on depression during and after pregnancy. 126 women from Michigan, up to 20 weeks pregnant, shall take part in the study. Some shall take supplements high in DHA, some shall take supplements high in EPA, and some will take a placebo.
And all of these women shall be assessed for symptoms of depression 6 weeks after delivery.
If this study confirms the results of other studies, namely that treatment for postpartum depression should include Omega 3 supplementation, then this is good news. There are very little if any side-effects of Omega 3 supplementation, and if the Omega 3 fats help reduce symptoms of postpartum depression then it is very easy and safe to supplement effectively.
Not only that but there are other powerful health reasons, both for the mother and baby, to take Omega 3 supplements or to ensure an adequate intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids through pregnancy and thereafter, and right through life.
To find out more about studies about using Omega 3 as a treatment for postpartum depression visit my website.

Eat More Fish. Have Less Diabetes

Did you know that diabetes was reaching epidemic proportions? The number of people contracting type 2 diabetes is dramatically rising, and some experts are predicting that diabetes will become the most serious health issue of our generation. While some people take diabetes lightly there is no reason to.
As anyone who has serious type 2 diabetes will tell you it's no laughing matter. Diabetes can have serious implications for your overall lifestyle and your health.
Unfortunately, although the incidence of diabetes is rising dramatically the risk factors are well known. It is firmly understood that amongst other causes, common lifestyle choices have a big effect.
There's a range of risk factors for diabetes including genetic risk factors, and of course if you have a genetic background which makes you predisposed to contracting type 2 diabetes then there's very little that you can do about your genetics.
However there are other risk factors which are not genetic and which you have a lot of control over. Lifestyle factors which are dramatic indications of your likelihood of contracting diabetes include obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise.
Does that sound familiar? These are the same lifestyle factors that contribute to so many other lifestyle diseases. Along with smoking and excessive alcohol intake obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise are amongst the biggest killers in our Western society.
And they are major risk factors to contracting diabetes. Yet despite all of this the incidence of obesity in particular is rising fast in our society.
If you don't have diabetes there's a lot you can do to help reduce your risk of contracting it. Pay more attention to your diet, include more fruit and vegetables in your diet and reduce or eliminate foods high in salt, sugar and bad fats, and in particular processed foods.
Get more exercise. Exercise is one of the single most important things you can do to improve your health generally, and science is recognising the value of exercise to your health more and more every day.
Keep your weight under control or lose weight if you need to. The steps indicated in the previous paragraph will get you a long way towards that end. Atrocious diet and lack of exercise will inevitably lead to weight gain and in many people to obesity, and thereafter to diabetes.
If you have diabetes than your doctor has probably already told you to do all these things, namely exercise more and eat better and lose weight. These are the major controlling factors in any regime to help manage diabetes and people who pay attention to this advice can even reduce their symptoms of diabetes to zero.
And there's something else you can do. Studies are now beginning to show that increasing your intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish can help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. The essential fatty acids DHA and EPA, known as the Omega 3 fatty acids, are extremely important to good health overall and almost all of us are deficient in our intake of the Omega 3 fats. And you can remedy this by taking high quality Omega 3 supplements.
A new study just published last month in China, where 110,000 people were studied for up to 9 years, concluded that those with the highest intake of fish, in other words the highest intake of the Omega 3 fats, had the lowest prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
And reducing your risk of diabetes is only one of the health benefits that you should attract to yourself from increasing your intake of Omega 3 fatty acids. One of the other health benefits is reducing your risk of dying from heart attack and that has to be worthwhile just on its own.
This advice applies to everybody. All of us should be paying more attention to our health by paying more attention to our diet, exercising more and keeping our weight under control. And there are powerful reasons, including reducing your risk of type II diabetes, for increasing your intake of Omega 3.