Raise Your Child's IQ With Adequate Amounts of DHA
by Barbara Minton

(NaturalNews) If you want to produce brainy children, feed them brain
food. Brain development of babies and children is highly influenced
by nutritional intake. Children who are fed inadequate amounts of a
key nutrient will have inadequate brain growth and development
resulting in lower IQ's, reduced language development, and slower
fine motor development. These are the findings of an extraordinary
longitudinal study conducted by a research team led by Professor Jake
Najman at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Composition of the Brain

The human brain is primarily composed of fat, 60% by dry weight.
Researchers hypothesized that fat must therefore be critical to the
development of a healthy brain. They were particularly interested in
the importance of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 long chain
fatty acid. DHA comprises 25 to 35% of the brain's fatty material and
50 to 60% of the fatty material in the retina of the eye where it is
needed for visual acuity.

DHA and Infant Development

The presence of adequate amounts of DNA is necessary for infant
neurological development. DHA is known to significantly alter many
basic properties of cell membranes including fluidity, elasticity,
permeability, and interactions with key regulatory proteins. These
properties and functions in the nervous system include a modulating
effect on the activity of ion channels and are believed to underlie
the role of DHA in supporting electrical signaling, cellular
communication, and ultimately brain functions such as memory,
processing, and learning ability.

Compelling research links DHA to the rapid cerebral cortex and eye
development that occurs during the prenatal period and in the first
few months of infancy. This is the period during which high levels of
DHA are actively deposited, especially during the last trimester of
pregnancy and during the first two months following birth.

The diet of the mother reflects the amount of DHA available to be
passed on to the baby. If the mother is low in DHA, there will be
little to pass along to the child. If the baby is not breast fed at
all, it receives no DHA in the critical developmental period
following birth. DHA levels of premature infants are especially low
since they miss much of that last trimester. Premature babies are
also more likely to be bottle fed.

Since DHA is passed through the placenta to the fetus during
pregnancy and to the nursing baby from breast milk, optimal levels of
DHA are necessary in the bloodstreams of pregnant women and in the
breast milk of nursing mothers. The Queensland study concluded that
the presence of DHA in breast milk explains why breast fed babies
have a cognitive advantage over babies fed with infant formula
containing no DHA. The study found that the breast fed children
demonstrated an 8 point intellectual advantage when they were
administered standard IQ tests.

Other research supports the conclusion that the DHA levels in
American women today are comparable to that of women in Third World
countries, largely as the result of dietary choices.

Sources of DHA

The level of DHA available to support brain and nervous system
development in the fetus and to be transferred from the mother to the
infant via breast milk is highly dependent on the diet of the mother.
Food sources providing superior levels of DHA are primarily salmon,
sardines, tuna and other fatty cold water fish. Lesser amounts may be
found in eggs, red meats and organ meats.

The vegetarian food source producing the greatest amounts of DHA is
flax. Other vegetarian sources include soybeans, walnuts and canola
oil. It is important to note that the vegetable source of omega-3
fatty acid is ALA (alpha linolenic acid). ALA is not equivalent in
its biological effects to DHA, which is more rapidly incorporated
into plasma and membrane lipids and produces more rapid effects than
does ALA. ALA is converted in the liver to EPA (eicosapentaenoic
acid), which then converts to DHA. This conversion is not always
reliable and may be restricted by insufficiencies in the body. So
even though ALA is beneficial for health, DHA is best obtained
directly from animal sources.

Realizing the need for this amazing nutrient, some people supplement
their diets with fish oil capsules. If this is your choice, remember
that DHA is highly unsaturated so it is very susceptible to free
radical damage. Such molecular damage is the reason why old fish has
that pungent fishy smell. This is also why you should be careful to
eat only the freshest fish. Canned fish may be a good choice as fish
is canned when very fresh. DHA survives the canning process well, and
canned fish is not noted for the presence of bisphenol A, a hazardous
compound found in many other canned foods.

When buying fish oil capsules, be sure to buy only a high quality
brand. Buy in quantities you can reasonably consume in a short period
of time, and store the bottle in the refrigerator. It may be best to
cut open a capsule and sample the oil. Fresh fish oil should have
almost no odor and only a slight after-taste.

Microalgae superfoods such as spirulina and chlorella are also
excellent sources of DHA. Purchase and store these as recommended for
capsules.

Do not fall into that old idea 'if some is good, more is better'. If
large amounts of supplemental DHA are taken, serious imbalances may
occur. A typical adult dose is 4 1000 mg. capsules per day. If you
wish to supplement your child after breast feeding is discontinued,
use 1/4 teaspoon of liquid fish oil rubbed into the body up to the
age of one year. Administered this way, the oil will go directly into
the infant's blood stream. For children ages one to two, use 1/2
teaspoon. After age two a child can be given a teaspoon of oil a day.

FDA Continues to Ban DHA in Infant Formula

DHA has received glowing recommendations from the World Health
Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations, and the National Institutes of Health.

In 1996, the retired chairman of pediatrics of Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine led a campaign in which outraged
researchers and pediatricians bombarded the FDA with over 1,000
letters pleading and demanding that they ensure the health and well
being of children by at least allowing the addition of DHA to infant
formula.

Despite these endorsements and the mounting research providing
evidence that DHA is the one essential structural ingredient missing
in infant formula, the FDA continues to ban its use in infant
formulas with the result that children who are not breast fed
encounter the world at a disadvantage.

Barbara Minton