Study shows fish oil makes kids smarter
Categories: Teens & tweens, Eating & nutrition
Take four overweight children, cut down on their consumption of unhealthy snacks and supplement their diet with fish oil and what do you get? According to Professor Basant Puri of Imperial College in London, you get smarter kids. His recent study showed that these kids didn't just get smarter, their brains underwent three years of development in just three months. One boy got so smart he found television boring!The four children, three boys and one girl, were all between the ages of 8 and 13. They were given a supplement called VegEPA, which contains a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. They cut down on fatty snacks and soft drinks and were encouraged to become more active. At the conclusion of the three month study, they all displayed improvements in reading, concentration, problem-solving and memory. In addition, brain scans showed higher levels of NAA (N-Acetylaspartate). NAA is complicated, but basically it has to do with connections and nerve cells in the brain. The more you have, the better.
Professor Puri said: "The results were astonishing. In three months you might expect to see a small NAA increase. But we saw as much growth as you would normally see in three years."
Well, that is astonishing. Bearing in mind this was a very small study, I am not going to rush out and buy fish oil supplements for Ellie. But it sure seems like something worth following up. I mean, a pre-teen suddenly becoming bored with television? How great is that?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lea 3-14-2007 @ 8:11PM
Funny thing--I've been seeing an acupuncturist for a couple of months and she strongly encourages cod liver oil supplements. I bought a flavored brand aimed at kids (Nordic Naturals strawberry). From all I've read on the web, it sounds like a very good idea.
To me the oil is still gross. I choke it down. But Baby A loves it in orange juice. She actually requests "strawberry-flavored orange juice."
Not sure yet about the increased smartness thing. I'm just hoping it will regulate her sometimes whiny behavior and help her sleep better--something that's been a challenge all along.
For me, of course, I'm hoping for lustrous hair and a blemish- and wrinkle-free face. The jury is still way out on that, too. :)
- L
http://www.quickservekids.com
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lydi 3-14-2007 @ 8:29PM
to do a proper study you need a controlgroup and a comparison group.so they whould have also needed to moniter an equal number of kids with out changing ther lifestyles, and a third group who ate better and exercised more with out taking suplements. olay with that to put the findings in context could a studys results be truly decisive as to the cause of the changes .
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Heather 3-14-2007 @ 10:52PM
4 kids is not a study. So I guess those of us who are allergic to fish just get to stay stupid.
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Jan Bay 3-14-2007 @ 11:33PM
We began giving the littlest one the orange flavored nordic naturals after we read that there seemed to be a decrease in ear infections in children that took cod liver oil. Her two older sisters suffered from one ear infection after another and we thought we'd give it a shot! Not only has this child never had an ear infection, but she's outpaced her sisters in development. I can't say if it was the fish oil or if we got lucky, but I'm not going to discontinue the fish oil.
http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com/
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ann adams 3-15-2007 @ 1:17AM
Way back when, fish was called "brain food". I always figured it was a myth but maybe they knew something after all.
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Laura Snow 3-15-2007 @ 2:31PM
Here in Holland it's common to give this to your kids. After reading this I might push it on my son.... Supposedly it makes kids more alert and able to concentrate in school too.
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