Posts Tagged ‘EPA’

 Can Fish Oil Help My Struggling Child?

Parents often ask if fish oil can help their child struggling with learning difficulties. I like to tell them the “bigger story” from my colleague, a doctor of environmental medicine. Let’s call him Dr. Child.

Dr. Child says, “In general, any good nutrients that help the body can potentially help the brain as well.”

“Fish oil can be a good body and brain helper. Here is why.”

“The important component for the brain is the DHA in the fish oil.”

It’s the DHA we are looking for

DHA? Docosahexaenoic acid: an omega-3 fatty acid present in fish oils.

DHA can also be found in krill oil and is available from certain algae as well.

Dr. Child says that DHA (not necessarily the EPA) us the key to brain health.

EPA? Eicosapentaenoic acid: an omega-3 fatty acid present in fish oils; also good for you but it is not the quintessential component for brain health that DHA is.

Dr. Daniel Amen (his actual name) in his book “Healing ADD” says that you need a fairly high dose if DHA to be effective. To heal ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) requires at least 2,000 mg of DHA, plus other considerations.

It’s not enough to put the good stuff in;

we need to get the bad stuff out

Dr. Child reminds us that some fish and some fish oils are contaminated with mercury,  and so we need to be alert to make sure the product we are choosing for our child is clean.

Dr. Child also reminds us that in addition to putting in good brain micronutrients, we need to test to see if existing levels of brain toxins (like mercury and lead) are present in the brain already, since “the bad stuff  interferes with learning no matter how much good stuff you put in.”

Glutathione can help the brain heal

A gentle place to start in removal of heavy metals from the brain, says Dr. Child, is to use glutathione, since it is a substance the body is already using to help clean unwanted debris from human cells, and it is effective in cleaning out brain cells.

The glutathioine supplement must be the liquid liposomal form of glutathione however as regular glutathione is mostly destroyed in the digestive process.

Liposomal means that the glutathione is packaged in a lipid (fatty) molecule so that the glutathione has access to the cell at the cellular level.

Stronger measures may be needed

if mercury or lead levels are high

in the child’s brain

Extra measures should be supervised medically.

Environmental medicine have had good success removing mercury and lead using oral detoxifiers such as DMSA and EDTA, respectively, which chelate (bind to metals) and help to remove them from the body and brain. 

DMSA? Dimercaptosuccinic acid: used to remove mercury and other heavy metals.

EDTA? Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid: used to remove lead and other heavy metals.

Dr. Child advises that IV (intravenous) chelation should be used only as a last resort. It is usually better to remove the heavy metals and other brain toxins slowly and gradually over time, using gentler oral detoxifiers.

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, May 13, 2014