Flax Seed Oil Information
Omega-3 Suplements and its Neurological Benefits
The human brain is more than 60% structural fat, just as your muscles are made of protein and your bones are made of calcium. But it's not just any fat that our brains are made of. It has to be certain types of fats, and we no longer eat these types of fats like we used to.
Worse, we eat man-made trans-fats and excessive amounts of saturated fats and vegetable oils high in Omega-6 fatty acids, all of which interfere with our body's attempt to utilize the tiny amount of Omega-3 fats that it does get from foods like flax seed, flax seed oil and cold water fish, fish oil, etc.
The brain conducts routine maintenance on your dopamine and serotonin receptors (implicated in both ADD and mood disorders). These receptors are composed of an Omega-3 fatty acid called DHA. If you don't have much DHA in your blood, man-made trans-fat molecules may be used as a construction material instead. But trans-fats (hydrogenated oils) are shaped differently than DHA: they are straight while DHA is curved.
The dopamine receptor becomes deformed and doesn't work as well as it would if it was constructed with DHA. Repeat this scenario day after day, year after year, and you could wind up with problems like depression and problems concentrating. This problem is most severe for a child whose brain is still developing.
A lack of highly unsaturated fats is particularly noticeable in connection with brain and nerve functioning. An adjustment in diet to one with oil and protein contents high in unsaturated fats brings the best results in children.
Now imagine a child in school learning math. The act of learning requires the brain to form new neural pathways. DHA is needed, especially for the delicate neural synapses which are composed entirely of DHA. This child, like the vast majority of U.S. children, eats almost no Omega-3 fatty acids. What does the brain do? Again, it struggles while totally void of omega-3 and finally uses other types of fats, which are the wrong shape. The neural network develops slowly and is defective while the child develops memory problems as well as behavior problems.
In a study of learning ability, rats were raised on either a diet that was deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids or one that was nutritionally complete. Initially, both groups of rats had similar numbers of synaptic vesicles. After a month-long learning program, however, the Omega-3 enriched rats had considerably more vesicles in their nerve endings and also performed markedly better on the tests. This study suggests there may be a direct connection between the amount Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet, the number of synaptic vesicles in your neurons, and your ability to learn.
Uses of Flax Seed
Health Benefits of Flax Seed
Side Effects of Flax Seed