|
It’s known that Omega 3 oils
found in fatty fish like sardines and tuna help prevent heart
attacks and strokes. There’s now tantalising new research that
suggests that Omega 3 could improve children’s learning and even
help depression.
Omega-3 is a fatty acid, which
is essential to our well being. One of the first people to
realise its importance was Oxford University scientist Hugh
Sinclair. Back in the 1940s he realised that the Inuit ate vast
amounts of fat yet hardly ever suffered from heart disease. He
believed this was due to the protective effect of one fat,
omega-3, found in oily fish.
However, at the time the idea
that a fat could be good for us was so controversial that he was
ridiculed and lost his post at the university. Undeterred, he
continued to study omega-3 and put himself on an 'Eskimo diet'.
For 100 days he ate nothing but seal blubber and fish. He found
that he not only lost weight in spite of eating half a kilo of
fat per day, but bled for increasingly long times when he cut
himself. His blood had become very thin. He thought that this
might be how omega-3 worked – by preventing red blood cells from
being sticky so that they did not clot and cause heart failure.
|
|
After two seminal studies, the
Seven Countries Study and the GISSI Study, which focused on
heart disease, we now know that omega-3 does have a protective
effect against cardiovascular disease. People who have had a
heart attack and who take a gram of omega-3 a day are less
likely to die suddenly of heart disease. Doctors think that
omega-3 may have a protective effect against any cardiovascular
disease.
Thirty years ago
scientists realised omega-3 is an
essential component of the brain, including the visual system.
Boosting levels of omega-3 in the brain may help alleviate
depression. Studies from America have correlated rates of
depression with the amount of fish eaten – countries that eat
less fish have higher rates of depression.
A huge amount of research has
now been carried out on omega-3 ranging from its effect on
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, autism, dyslexia, multiple sclerosis
and even IQ. However, more research is needed before we can
prove what omega-3 can or cannot do. In spite of this, we know
that our diet used to be higher in omega-3 than it is now so
many think we should try to elevate levels of omega-3 through
eating vegetarian sources, such as flaxseeds and walnuts, or by
eating more oily fish.
|
