What is DHA?
Why is it important for KIDS
Some of you have been asking me: "What is this DHA stuff and why is it important for kids.
DHA stands for docosahexaenoic acid - DHA is a long chain omega-3 fatty acid that
comes from fish oil. To help you understand why it, and the other long chain omega-3 fatty acids like EPA, are important for brain function I need to tell you a little bit about how our nerves function.
You can think of each nerve as an electric wire. Each nerve has axons that carry the electrical
impulse much the same way that wires contain electricity. And, just as wires are coated with
plastic to keep the electrical current within the wire, each axon is coated with a membrane
called a myelin sheath that allows it to deliver the electrical impulse to the very end of the axon.
Those myelin sheaths have a high content of omega-3 fatty acids - and a lot of that is DHA. For
example, at birth DHA makes up 93% of the omega-3 acids in the retina and 97% of the omega-
3 fatty acids in the brain. By age 5, a child's brain is 3.5 times larger than at birth, so kids obviously require a lot of DHA for adequate brain development. Animal studies have shown that DHA is essential for both brain development and visual acuity, and these studies have been confirmed in humans. For example, one clinical trial showed that maternal supplementation with a cod liver oil enriched for DHA resulted in a higher IQ at age 4 years compared to supplementation with corn oil. Another clinical trial reported a beneficial effect of DHA supplementation on visual acuity when given to infants after weaning. But, it is not just visual acuity and brain development that are affected by DHA.
Several studies show that a low intake of omega-3 fatty acids is associated with
behavioral disorders such as ADHD. And clinical trials in England, Israel & Japan have all
shown that supplementation with DHA-rich omega-3 fatty acids significantly reduces ADHD
behavior.
So DHA is important for kids - but how much do they need? There is no official Daily Value
for DHA yet, but most experts recommend a daily intake of 125 to 150 mg.
Unfortunately, most kids age one to five are only getting 20-40 mg/day from the foods that they
eat! This is where supplementation comes in. We could feed our kids more sardines & liver, but
I doubt that they would eat them. We could feed them more tuna and salmon, but the
Environmental Protection Agency warns that those kinds of fish may be contaminated with
mercury, pesticides and dioxins, which can be harmful to young children.
Plus, supplementation works. A recently published study showed that when children aged 4-12
were given a supplement containing 100 mg of DHA per day their levels of DHA increased by
65%-70%. So DHA and other omega-3 fatty acids are brain food - but are they only important for kids?
Absolutely Not! In previous "Health Tips From The Professor" I have alerted you to studies
showing that depression in adults is associated with low intake of omega-3 fatty acids. I
have also alerted you to clinical studies showing that increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids
slowed age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.
Does that mean that adults should be taking a DHA supplement or focusing on DHA-rich foods?
That's not entirely clear. Most of the clinical trials in children have focused on DHA intake, while most of the clinical trials in adults have used fish or fish oil preparations in which the major omega-3 fatty acid was EPA.
So until the science changes I recommend that kids get their DHA from supplements providing
100 mg of DHA a day and adults get their omega-3 fatty acids from fish
or fish oil supplements.
To your health!
Dr. Stephen Chaney, PhDPlease contact me for more info on YOUR child's health, and to START NOW doing something about it!!
article by: Facebook | Lyn Shaklee: What is DHA & Why so important for KIDS by Dr Chaney
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