Brain Chemistry and Omega-3 Fats

By: Roz Burnham, Metabolic Clinical Nutrition

http://mysite.verizon.net/rozburnham/

Omega-3 fats are essential fats that cannot be made by the body and must come from the diet or dietary supplementation.

Dietary sources include cold water fish, free range chicken, natural eggs and natural grass-fed beef, organic dairy products, organic flax seeds and flax oils, organic dark leafy green vegetables, walnuts, legumes, and whole grains.

Dietary supplements of omega-3 fats, including cod liver oil, salmon and tuna oil, should be consumed if you avoid eating omega-3 foods.

The American diet is very deficient in omega-3 fats due to a high consumption of bad fats from fried foods, vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats (trans fats) and animal products such as corn-fed meat and dairy products. These foods are high in omega-6 fats which promote inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

Omega-3 fats are essential for normal brain and nervous system function. These fats build the structure of brain and nerve cells. They also support important neurochemical messengers in the brain.

The white matter of the brain is comprised of 60% fat made from these essential fats. These neuronal pathways are crucial to thinking, feeling, memory, motion and nerve transmission.

Omega-3 fats also comprise 30% of the brain’s gray matter and are found in all junctions between the neurons where chemical communication occurs for nerve transmission.

Deficiencies of omega-3 fats are being linked to many neurological conditions such as: depression, anxiety, aggression, mood swings, attention deficit, hyperactivity, seizures, autism, dementia, memory loss, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Omega-3 fats regulate stress by soothing and calming the nervous system and supporting the activity of the feel good neurotransmitters.

These fats have been found to enhance the balanced activity of the brain and nervous system promoting a feeling of calm and wellbeing.