Eat the Oily Fish, Kids!

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3773781/Children-eat-plenty-oily-fish-better-readers-peers-experts-say.html

Author: Izzy Ferris

Title: Children Who Eat Plenty of Oily Fish May Be Better Readers Than Their Peers, Experts Say

Research has recently shown that children's reading abilities significantly increase after the consumption of Omega-3. It has also been determined that the best fishes to eat are the oily ones such as salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, and sardines.

A study discovered that children who took a Omega-3 and Omega-6 supplement, Equazen, over a three month period, showed significant improvement in their reading ability compared to children who took a placebo. Reading comprehension ability, pronologic decoding time, and visual analysis time significantly increased. For children taking the supplement, there was a 64% increase in reading comprehension after three months. The children were able to decode words 10% more quickly, and they showed twenty times the improvement over the placebo group for visual analysis.

Children are recommended to eat fish twice a week, and one of those servings should be oily fish. However, a British statistic showed that nine out of ten British children were not meeting the dietary recommendation. Nutritionists urge parents to make sure that fish be a large part of their children's diet. Even if the children do not like fish, supplements would be a good alternative.

This article connects to the major idea we have been researching -- does omega-3 improve brain function? Omega-3 has been linked to multiple studies showing increased brain health. Some include the increase of hippocampal brain volume as we age. Others show that DHA can help the brain recover from damage, such as a stroke or concussion. DHA has also been linked to helping improve attention deficits in children. Scientists have already determined that omega-3 and omega-6 are essential nutrients for our body since we cannot produce them ourselves, and the benefits seem quite significant over a wide range of studies.