Oh, My..Omegas!
By Nancy Emerson Lombardo

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two part series focused on the importance of Omega 3 fatty acids and the best sources of these all important nutrients. Part 2 will focus on Food Sources and Supplements of this important memory and health maintenance nutrient.

Omega-3 fatty acids make up a major part of brain and body cells but can only be ingested, not made by our bodies. Omega- 3s are important for building brain cell membranes, dendrites and synapses. These healthy fats are also anti-inflammatory, and thus helpful for preventing or managing a variety of diseases. Choose fish (3 or more times a week!), seafood, fish oils, green leafy vegetables, walnuts, flax seeds, and purslane.

What are Omega-3’s?
Omega-3 fatty acids are “essential fatty acids” –they are necessary for life but since the body cannot make them we must eat them as part of our diet. Omega-3’s are a type of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). They are named for fact that the first double bond in their fatty acid chain is three carbons atoms away from the methyl end of the molecule.

This location of the double bond causes the molecule to “bend” and in turn this shape assures flexibility of our cell membranes of which Omega-3’s are a key component.

What are the Types of Omega-3’s?
There are two major types of Omega-3 fatty acids:

Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is the plant form.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which is the marine or "sea" form. EPA and DHA are found in fish, algae and all seafood and in grass fed and free range animals and poultry.

It is the marine form, DHA and EPA that make up much of our own brain and body cell membranes and other components, not ALA, the plant form.

The ALA form of omega- 3s is formed in the green leaves, specifically the chloroplasts, of plants; hence both grass and green leafy vegetables are excellent sources of ALA.

Some of the ALA from our diets can be converted to EPA and DHA in the body, but this process becomes drastically less efficient with aging. Most ALA in humans is “burned” as energy. Therefore, it is recommended that people aged 65 and older rely mainly on the marine sources of Omega-3’s, but this is true for older and younger people alike. In next month’s issue we will discuss these foods.

Why Are Omega-3’s Essential?
DHA + EPA Omega 3’s are essential for healthy functioning of both brain and body, including our thinking, emotions, nerve function, vision, immune system, cardio-vascular system, hormones, joint health, and much, much more.

Omega 3’s and Body Health

A Harvard SPH website reports: “DHA and EPA Omega 3’s are an integral part of cell membranes throughout the body and affect the function of the cell receptors in these membranes.

DHA and EPA are the starting point for making hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of artery walls, and inflammation.

They also bind to receptors in cells that regulate genetic function. Research suggests Omega-3 fats help prevent heart disease and stroke, may help control some autoimmune diseases such as lupus, eczema, and rheumatoid arthritis and may play protective roles in cancer and other conditions.” For more information on this, you may visit the research source at:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-shouldyou- eat/omega-3-fats/

Cardiovascular Health
Medical research shows eating fish and fish oils and other Omega 3’s reduce blood pressure, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, stroke and peripheral vascular disease as well as the inflammations known to increase risk of heart attacks.

Eating omega-3 fatty acids in place of saturated fats can help decrease overall triglyceride levels.

Omega-3's help thin the blood and prevent blood platelets from clotting and sticking to artery walls, which in turn may help decrease the risk for blocked blood vessels and heart attacks.

Omega 3's help maintain the elasticity of artery walls, and thus prevent the arteries from hardening (atherosclerosis), and ameliorate or even reverse this condition.

All of these factors lead to reduced risk of heart disease.

For all these reasons, the American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish at least twice a week.

The retina of the eye is almost pure DHA; thus vision also benefits from sufficient Omega 3’s in the diet.

Chronic Diseases
Research shows that Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and throughout the brain and body may decrease the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and arthritis, and also help regulate blood sugar. Many physicians recommend consuming more Omega 3’s (and fewer Omega 6’s) for those who have, or wish to prevent, metabolic syndrome (Carpentier 2006).

Omega 3’s and Brain Health
Omega-3 fatty acids are important for normal brain functioning, growth, and development, not just as indirect effects from improved cardio-vascular and anti-inflammatory function, but also due to their key role in building brain cell membranes, dendrites and synapses. The myelin sheath for nerves is also largely comprised of DHA.

Omega 3’s appear to be particularly critical to cognitive brain functions such as memory, attention, and executive function as well overall behavioral functioning. Omega-3’s (DHA) in fish or fish oil (Hashimoto 2002 2004) and in marine algae (Calon, Cole 2004) protect dramatically against cognitive decline and synaptic deterioration due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology in AD transgenic mice DHA mediates A-beta production, degradation, tau phosphorylation, glucose uptake, and neurological signal transduction (Lane 2005). Modest DHA/ EPA intake significantly slows cognitive decline in elderly men (van Gelder 2007).

DHA is found in reduced amounts in people with Alzheimer’s disease. One study found that Omega-3 fish oil (2.8 g of BOTH DHA and EPA) alone can slow cognitive decline in persons with very early stage Alzheimer’s disease (Freund-Levi + Cederholm, 2008). A larger NIH study released in November 2010 (J. Quinn in JAMA) using just DHA (derived from algae) did not slow cognitive decline in people with mild or moderate Alzheimer’s disease.

However the study may be flawed in that it did not include EPA Omega-3 along with the DHA. EPA may have an essential companion role related to cognitive function as yet to be elucidated; EPA is thought by other medical researchers and physicians to be essential for treatment of depression, anxiety and attention deficit disorder, in both children and adults. Thus marine Omega-3’s are also recommended by the American Psychiatric Association for mood disorders (Freeman 2006).

It is also possible that even more potent results for cognitive health will be found to depend on combining DHA with not only EPA, its companion marine Omega- 3, but also other nutrients such as key antioxidants such as the eight-parts of vitamin E, vitamin D, all or most B vitamins, other phytonutrients and/or other constituents of brain neurons.

Dr. Richard Wurtman of MIT believes it is the combination of DHA with choline and uridine that may be therapeutic and his patented product, combined with EPA and several vitamins is currently being tested as a medical food drink, in persons with AD in the US and Europe, by Nutricia, a subdivision of Dannon (the yogurt) company of the Netherlands.

And BUSM is currently in a Phase 1 trial (led by Sanford Auerbach MD) of another combination of nutrients that puts two plant/spice extract blends together with fish oil (both DHA and EPA) and vitamin D.

Why Are So Many Americans deficient in Omega 3’s?

Food and animal scientists believe the major reason Americans are deficient in Omega 3’s today is that our diets and food sources have drastically changed in the last 100-200 years.

All our major sources of commercial foods - vegetables, meat, poultry and even fish - have fewer Omega 3’s and more Omega 6’s than humans consumed for millions of years. Omega 6’s are another essential fatty acid, necessary for life, but which in excess promote inflammation and other problems.

For example, grass-fed beef used to be a source of Omega 3’s (and vitamin E and several other phytonutrients). Today’s grain fed beef no longer contain Omega 3’s (nor much of the other vegetation derived nutrients) and instead add to the excess consumption of Omega 6’s, especially the most damaging kinds for the brain (such as Arachidonic acid -see Sanchez - Mejia, 2008).

The change is so dramatic that 100 years ago we would have called DHA and EPA the animal/marine form! To compound problems, Americans also eat fewer green leafy vegetables, fish and other high level sources of Omega 3’s and more of foods rich in Omega 6’s, such as corn and corn products (and animals fed mostly corn).

Our ancestors evolved on a diet with a ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 of about 1:1 or 4:1. But today Americans’ diet contains a ratio of 20 to 30 to 1. This is a profound imbalance unprecedented in human history.

Many scientists now believe this imbalance, which creates high level of inflammation throughout the body, together with many other detriments, is a major contribution to higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, mood and brain disorders and other health issues.

The goal of the Memory Preservation Nutrition ® is to improve the ratio of Omega 3’s to Omega 6’s in the diet through multiple strategies including eating more foods rich in ALA, DHA and EPA, as well as fewer foods rich in Omega 6’s.

Read next month’s issue for “Oh, My Omega 3’s” Part II – featuring Food Sources and Supplements containing Omega 3’s.

Go to www.healthcareinsights.net web site for Omega 3 rich recipes and the references for this article.

About The Author
Nancy Emerson Lombardo, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized researcher and lecturer on brain healthy lifestyles. She is President of HealthCare Insights, LLC and developer of the Memory Preservation Nutrition® program of brain healthy foods, the Brain Health and Wellness Center® as well as Adjunct Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine. She is available for consultation to individuals and companies, including group meal services. She can be reached by email at nemerson@healthcareinsights.net, or by telephone at (978) 621-1926.