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THE SUPER SUPPLEMENT FOR THE BRAIN DHA is short for an essential fatty acid, technical name: docosahexaenoic acid. It is a good fat! The main source is seafood. We all know it's excellent for the heart, but also a winner for the brain. Did you know the brain is 40% fat? And much of that fat is DHA. As the human brain develops a deficiency in this good fat can cause damage and impairment. An interesting fact, that needs to be addressed more, is that premature babies have a lower level of DHA. Giving these premature babies DHA supplements have resulted in better cognition and vision. Formula feeding has no DHA. What about adults? Can we improve our thinking skills? Especially our short term memory, which seems to go first. Smoking and drinking reduce DHA levels. People who eat little to no seafood, have shown to have very low blood levels, in some cases the levels were too low to be detected. When women are pregnant, the pre-born child drains the DHA from the Mother. If she fails to replenish her supply of DHA, she could have lower levels with each child. Some researchers have linked low levels of DHA in Mothers to postpartum depression. Speaking of depression, can these humble fish oils make us feel good? Maybe. Harvard Medical School has studied bipolar disorder and fish oils supplements. After four months 13 out of 16 patients who were given the placebos had relapsed. On the other hand, only one out of 15 of the fish oil patients relapsed. The results were so compelling in favor of the fish oil supplements, that the study was stopped, deemed unethical, to make the placebo patients suffer. And just think, there are no side effects for people who can absorb fish oils, compared to drugs. And what about dementia, an overwhelming disorder in our population? A study coming out of Tufts University School of Medicine, conducted by Ernst J. Schaefer, M. D. measured DHA levels of people for nine years. He found in his volunteers that people who had the lowest level of DHA, had a 160% greater chance of developing dementia. These adults numbered 1,137. Another study conducted by Kazunga Yazawa Ph. D., of the Sagami Chemical Research Center in Japan, makes a creditable case in favor of fish oil therapy. He gave 18 demented patients 700 to 1,400 mg daily, Doctor Yazawa concluded that the improvement was too good to ignore. All patients had better speaking abilities, more agility, and a better mood. And what about kids? Children who are diagnosed with ADHD, the disorder of extreme hyperactivity and learning difficulty, seem to be in need of higher levels of DHA. Why not try to feed and balance the brain, instead of using the drug of choice, Ritalin. To put it quite simple, children who had the lowest amounts of DHA, show the most abnormal behavior. The link between bottle feeding and ADHD, seems to be lining up with the lower blood levels of DHA. DHA, how can we get it? Of course, seafood is an excellent source. Fish like: salmon, trout, tuna, cod, bluefish, halibut, sole. Some DHA can also be found in chicken, for example three ounces can give you 56 mg of DHA. And the egg yolk contains 19 grams. Salmon being the king of DHA, with 618 mg in a three ounce piece. What about supplements, if your diet is not an adequate source. About 200 mg on the low end, people suffering from depression, or mental disorders, should consult their doctor for fish oil therapy. Studies to support this data
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