|
Fish Oil has
Dramatic Effect on Learning and Development |
Four
out of every 10 children in a new British study showed
significant improvements in reading and spelling when
given fish oil supplements.
(Fish oils
contain omega-3s that are essential for brain
development and function but are lacking in modern
processed diets.)
Dr
Alexandra Richardson, who led the research, said: "Food
affects behaviour. If you paid attention to diet, you
could really make a difference."
The study,
published in this month's issue of the American journal
Pediatrics and conducted by researchers from Oxford
University's department of physiology, found significant
improvement in concentration and behaviour. Symptoms of
the sort associated with attention deficit and
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were reduced by the degree
usually achieved with drugs such as Ritalin. Parents
reported that other health problems, such as eczema and
asthma, also improved, although no specific data on
these other conditions has been published in the study.
Researchers studied 117 British children (ages 5-12) who
were judged to be normal but were labelled
underachievers and believed to have dyspraxia -a
condition that involves problems with motor skills and
coordination that frequently overlaps with dyslexia,
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and
autism.
Researchers have been trying to
establish why there has been a fourfold rise in these
types of disorders in the past 15 to 20 years.
The Durham study followed a rigorous
scientific method called a randomised double blind
placebo-controlled trial.
Half of
the children analysed were given fish oil supplements
over three months, while the other half were given
placebos of olive oil. After three months, the placebo
group was also given the supplements.
The
Results
-
Children who took fish oil supplements made about
three times the amount of progress in their reading
skills than those who took the placebo (9-10 months'
progress in their reading in three months)
-
Similar boosts in progress were seen in the placebo
group when they switched to fish oil
-
Further, while none of the kids involved in the
study had been diagnosed with ADHD, one-third of
them demonstrated enough problems to place them in
this category. However, after three months of taking
fish oil, half of them showed such significant
improvements that they no longer fell into this
category.
The early
results of the research, which began in 2002, were so
dramatic that they attracted considerable publicity
before the codes to establish which group had been on
the fish oils and which had been on placebos had been
broken. Now that the full data is available it proves
what has been increasingly feared by parents and
teachers - that children's diets today are inadequate
for their basic needs.
Source: The Guardian, May 2nd 2005
PEDIATRICS
Vol. 115 No. 5 May 2005, pp.
1360-1366
