WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- A study in this month's issue of the journal "Pediatrics" has come up with a provocative study of the improvement in children's concentration when they are fed supplements of fish oil.
A group of young under-achieving 5- to 12 year-olds from the northeast of England, some of whom were also disruptive, took part in a survey to discover whether their diets were affecting their behavior and their learning ability. A total of 117 children from 12 public schools in County Durham were picked for observation. While they were assessed to be of normal ability, they were suspected of suffering from dyspraxia, a condition that provokes problems with coordination or motor skills and affects some 5 percent of children in Britain.
It seems a relatively recent phenomenon and maybe the answer lies in the end of free fish oil.
For more than a decade after the second world war, while the rationing that had begun in January 1940 was still in effect, British children were issued a weekly supply of orange juice concentrate, extract of malt and bottles of cod-liver oil, to compensate for the lack of fresh produce, meat and dairy products. Mothers would attempt to disguise the horrors of the daily dose of cod's liver oil in a generous spoonful of the malt, rendering both elements equally disgusting. When supplies ceased with the end of rationing in July 1954, so did the daily-dose habit.
In the last 20 years, conditions like dyspraxia, dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have increased fourfold in Britain. In 2002, researchers launched a study to discover why. It seems the revolting fish oil was a crucial addition to the daily wartime diet of deprivation. And today's diet is not much better.
Once their IQs, behavior, reading, spelling and motor skills had been tested the children were divided into two groups. Over the course of three months, one group was administered doses of fish oil, high in omega-3 fatty acids. The other group received placebo doses of olive oil. In 12 weeks, the reading progress of those on the essential fat supplements increased by nine to 10 months, while the placebo group continued at normal progress levels. As soon as the placebo group's doses of olive oil were replaced by omega-3 additives at the end of the 3-month trial, its members' reading ability also surged. Behavior and concentration improved by a degree usually derived from the administration of Ritalin, a stimulant commonly prescribed for ADHD.
While none of the children had been directly assessed as having ADHD, a third of the group, The Guardian newspaper reported, were found to have sufficient problems to include them in the category. Once they had completed the three months on fish oils, none of the children fell into the category and dramatic improvements in reading and spelling were made by 40 percent of those on the high fatty acid supplements.
Conclusion: the largely processed diets we feed our children nowadays do not contain enough vital nutrients to meet our children's needs for brain development. Dr. Alexandra Richardson, who led the research conducted by Oxford University's department of physiology in England, told The Guardian, "Food affects behavior. If you paid attention to diet, you could really make a difference."
It's an observation to bear in mind given our shopping patterns as revealed by the recent publication of profits by the major U.S. supermarket chains. Safeway is building a mammoth "urban-concept store" in San Francisco, a more palatable name for a temple to miles and miles of processed food shelving as well as to the fresh produce that is every supermarket's "lost leader." April net sales for Costco are up 11 percent from $3.56 billion to $3.94 billion. Spartan Stores, which owns and operates 54 supermarkets in Michigan and Ohio, along with 21 deep-discount drugstores, and supplies more than 40,000 private-label national brand products to more than 330 independent grocery stores, reported fourth-quarter earnings of $5.8 million, up from $1.7 million over the same period the year before.
For our children's sake, if we can't afford to boost Whole Foods Market's second-quarter net income increase of $42 million from $34.4 million the previous year, then we should invest in some good old cod liver oil and malt extract for a daily dosing.
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