Fish oil 101 (for new members)

[Guest guest]

Here's a clip of an archive from the CHERAB group that may help answer some

basic questions about fish oils:

What fish oil should I give to my baby or child?

The confusion is more the brand names than the formulas. In actuality there

really is no such thing as a " children's EFA " perfect for all children yet.

However fish oils can be marketed to children by making fun flavorings and

smaller capsules. Most of the parents I know squeeze the oil out of the capsule

anyway -so that's besides the point for most of our group.

EFAs are in baby formula and food, and EFAs come and are used in a variety of

formulas for children for various reasons. Mainly we hear about the use of them

for healthy brain development in regards to children but Omega 3 and 6 are

essential fatty acids are essential to the body, yet our bodies can't produce

them so we need to consume them, and yet they are virtually lacking in our diets

today. There are tips posted to this discussion board on how to get fish oils

into children.

Dosage that was used for ten years now in the CHERAB group

" I will use the following examples with the brand name ProEFA since that's the

formula/dosage that seems to work the best for most of us (Efalex and EyeQ are

similar Omega 3/6 formulas that also have good reports) For any brand name of

Omega 3/6 formula -you could make the same formula by mixing together fish oil

and either primrose or borage seed oil. Keep in mind in anecdotal feedback done

by parents from all over through CHERAB -that pure Omega 3 (including cod liver

oil) or pure Omega 6 either showed no results -or very little results in almost

all cases. If wanting to use a pure Omega 3 the best reports were from higher

EPA formulas like Coromega -but again with the small amount of GLA better

results were reported.

When it comes to fish oils brand name isn't important, all that matters are

formula, dosage and quality of the oils.

Dosage of one capsule a day ProEFA that at the lowest dosage appears

to be the best -

148 mg EPA

99 mg DHA

40 mg GLA

Nordic Naturals makes a number of oils...the Omega 369 is the commercial line

sold in stores of the same professional line not sold in stores called ProEFA.

ProEFA is slighly cheaper as you get 90 capsules per bottle vs. 60

and in most cases on line for around the same price. For the person that says

they are using Nordic Naturals " fish oil " that may or may not be the right

formula. You want the ratio of at least what's in the ProEFA to start -but many

of us in the CHERAB group found raising the EPA a bit more brought even better

results.

We should have a new website soon (thanks to !) but for now

here's some more info online

http://www.cherab.org/information/indexinformation.html#diet

Article from EngleMed " Look Who's Talking Now: Fish oil capsules help children

with speech disorders find their voices "

http://www.cherab.org/information/dietaryeffects/Englemed.html

There is also an entire chapter about fish oils in The Late Talker book.

For fish oils brand name doesn't matter -all that matters are formula, dosage,

and quality of the oil. When you are new to it you think all fish oils are the

same -they are not. Again you want a formula higher in EPA than DHA with a small

amount of GLA. I know that sounds confusing -which is why we do point to brands.

Here are sources for some of the brands our group has found success with for

years

http://www.cherab.org/information/dietaryeffects/efabasics.html

http://www.speech411.com

If anyone has any questions please ask.

(as pulled from our apraxia.org fb page

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738 & gid=115029735601#/topic.php?u\

id=115029735601 & topic=7401 )

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[Guest guest]

Hi Becky!

Nordic Naturals used to use the same testing USA standard for the oils as most

other USA companies which shows slightly higher levels of the DHA EPA etc. than

the Norwegian Medical standard.

Nordic Naturals no longer uses USA standard of testing for the oils -they use

the Norwegian Medical standard or something which is much more stringent then

the USA testing...thing is that if you live in the USA and look for oils in the

USA -the rest if you compare them apples to apples will use the USA testing.

Just makes it all more confusing in my opinion -I think they should use both USA

so people can make logical comparisons. In general I wouldn't worry about it as

slight variations may not matter as much as in general you want a higher EPA to

DHA with a bit of GLA. The ProEFA from Nordic is a great start point...but you

may want to raise the EPA a bit more after you get started. I typically tell

parents to do that once they see the oils " working " which takes around a day to

three weeks almost across the board.

For us as parents YES!!!! OK do you ever walk into a room and forget why you

walked in there? I'm sure yes...well due to research by Dr. Joe Hibbeln we now

know that when we are pregnant we are growing a brain inside of us -and if we

don't consume enough EFAs (essential fatty acids) that the baby will take them

from us -the pregnant moms. Try taking EFAs for a few days and you'll notice

the difference in your memory and recall. And yes fish oils are good for so

many systems in the human body -neurological, cardiovascular, digestive...just

google the word PUFA which stands for polyunsaturated fatty acid and any disease

etc. and you'll get a list of things it's good for. You can google the words

" fish oils " but you'll get all kinds of commercial sites.

And...I don't even know if I should bring this up...but yes I guess I should.

Heart attacks run in both my family as well as my husband's. Both my husband

and I lost our dads to heart attacks when they were late 40s -early 50s. Due to

my son Tanner being on fish oils and all my research I've had my entire family

on fish oils for years now. Well a few years ago my husband Glenn had a heart

attack due to a blood clot and he was young 40s...and he lived and he has no

damage to his heart at all. So do I think as adults or parents we should be on

fish oils???? YES!!! But don't ask me ask your doctor- it's recommended by so

many today that I'd be shocked if they say anything but YES!!!!

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