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Essential Fats are very important to the brain. Review the key information below and note that I do not recommend fish oils. There is a more effective source that has been recently discover but that it has been used by other cultures for hundreds of years. Curious? Keep on reading and connect with me.

From Beyond Health:
Fats that Make You Happy; Fats that Make You Blue
Fat Attack . . . our brains need the right kind of fats

Apart from water, the human brain is made up mostly of fat. Yes, we are all fatheads! So it just makes sense that the kinds of fat we eat are going to impact the brain, including those brain centers that influence emotion. It boils down to this: healthy fats like omega 3s and olive oil tend to improve your mood; unhealthy fats like transfats tend to depress it.

Spanish researchers followed more than 12,000 university graduates and their diets for 6-1/2 years. They found that diets rich in transfats increased the risk of depression by 50%. On the other hand, those whose diets were high in olive oil and fish oil (omega 3s) had a low risk of depression.

In the US, where we consume on average five times as much transfat as Europeans do, the risk for depression is without doubt considerably higher. Making matters worse, the wrong fats can screw up general body chemistry leading to all manner of diseases.

For more on choosing the right fats see, ”Oils-Choosing the Right Ones” in our Article Archives.

A. Sanchez-Villegas. Dietary fat intake and the risk of depression: the SUN Project. Public Library of Science ONE. 2011;6(1):e16268.

Omega 3s — The Happy Fats
Happy Fat

. . . many of us need an oil change.

Numerous studies have associated omega 3 fats — found especially in fish and flax oil and to an appreciable degree in walnuts — with improved mood, especially when it is taken by people who were previously deficient. Unfortunately this may include as much as 90% of our population!

The importance of omega 3s to brain health was first reported in the 1970s. At that time, Prof. Michael Crawford of the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition in England predicted an epidemic of brain and psychological problems due to eating the wrong fats comparable to our heart disease epidemic unless drastic changes were made in the average diet.

Unfortunately, diets in both the US and Europe have only gotten worse, and we have epidemics of brain and mood disorders on both continents. In Great Britain, for example, the national cost of brain disorders is now higher than the costs for cancer and heart disease combined.

It’s hard to get enough omega 3 fat without supplementing. The traditional source of omega 3 fats is fish, however due to contamination of our waterways, I recommend getting most of your omega 3s from cod liver oil or fish oil supplements that have been purified of contaminants or flaxseed oil, available at health food stores and at Beyond Health.

Mood is influenced by many factors. You need a complete array of vitamins and minerals to support mental health. But if, like so many, you are low in good fats and high in bad, an ”oil change” can make a miraculous difference.

Access the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition at http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/ibchn/about/about_home.cfm