I have seen a study claiming that the Omega-3 in flax (alpha linolenic acid) is more converted in females than males.
The claim was just over 20% for females and only 4% for males.
This is because women bear children and the fetus needs alot of DHA for the brain.

I think if you give primrose (or borage) oil with the Flax you will have better conversion.

The new algae sourced EPA and DHA are typically used by vegans.
There is a newer one that has higher EPA than the older ones that were predominately DHA, type.

DHA and chronic pain:
 

Here is a new article from our poster, Marlene from our PN forum.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0717164721.htm

It is really interesting, and suggests DHA (found in fish and krill oil) has been shown to reduce chronic pain.

DHA can be purchased derived from algae, for vegetarians.

Perhaps this book has been mentioned before, but I'm reading "The Queen Of Fats" by Susan Allport.

It is extremely fascinating, and gives me a better insight in the science behind the books of B. Sears. It also allows me to better understand that it's not just Omega-3, but the balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 that is most important. Just adding omega-3 without reducing omega-6 intake is almost pointless, as they both compete (probably for the same enzymes).

Even the story on how the name came about is fascinating, as is the story of the different scientists who discovered what it did/does. I'll now also never forget the role and importance of ALA...

Truly recommended if you want to understand the different "omegas", other fatty acids, saturated vs unsaturated, and their role in humans ...

This looks like a good book.... I see it is available at Amazon used, so I will put it on my to do list.

(I just bought 2 Art instruction books (advanced colored pencil and watercolor pencils) for this month, so this one will have to wait at bit ;) )

I did a quick search through this thread, and didn't find any mention of hemp(seed) oil (the LEGAL kind :cool:). I happened to come across mention of it in an article in Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, so I'm checking it out a bit further... (Non-snickering comments :rolleyes:, add'l input welcome)

Doc

Here is a new study on Omega-3's and learning in children:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/09...ren/59556.html

This is what brought me initially to the net, trying to help our son with ADHD and learning. It is not MY fault my parents never ate fish because my Grandmother choked on a fish bone many decades ago.

So my son was quite deficient in long chain fatty acids. I did cook some fish during my pregnancy and perhaps that is why he was not worse off than he was. But we used a high DHA product then available by Carlson's... for him once I studied the Omega-3 data available online over a decade ago. I am here basically because of our success with this single intervention in our own home once we purchased our first computer!

I'm still very much learning about it, but it seems that hemp oil has the right balance between omega-6 and omega-3 "precursor" oils. Linoleic acid can be elongated to arachidonic acid, where linolenic acid (good job on the names... also not to be confused with oleic acid, which is an omega-9) can be transformed into DHA/EPA.

However, some researchers comment that this conversion is not very efficient, and that it's better to directly consume DHA and EPA. But if those are not available for whatever reason, we can make do with hemp oil.

(again, I'm not an expert)

I was always a bit bothered by the "fish" thing, as history places the early humans in areas where there wasn't much fish. But then I understood that many of these EFA's can be found simply in plants and weeds, and if anything that we have selected plants for our food that keep fresh as long as possible; sadly, that means we have selected on less and less omega-3, as it oxidizes so easily. The spinach we eat today contain about 40% of the EFA's it originally contained, for example.

Ha, yes. Then again, don't forget that it's only 30 years that we really "know" that omega-3 is essential, especially for babies and kids. One of the things I learned from Queen of Fats is that breast milk contains high doses of DHA - much higher than the levels found in the mother. Nature seems to "know" how important it is for brain development (and also eye development). Needless to say the first formulas contained no DHA.

I know we can only buy/read so many books ;) but I really think you will enjoy it. My main beef is that it is "short"; but it has connected many many dots for me. (Eczema seems to be connected with a shortage too, and I had terrible episodes as a toddler, bad enough so that I had to be tied up to the bed to stop me from scratching). I have been allergic to most fish all my life, so it may not be surprising how well the high dose omega-3 seems to work for me.

Of course, we have to be careful that we don't assume we'll reach world peace with a good omega-3/omega-6 balance ;) but it is amazing how important it is. (we can even tweak our metabolism rate with that balance...)

PS: as a teaser: the book explains how prostaglandins got their name (well, they are now called eicosanoids, as we now know the name is wrong). They only "live" for about 30 seconds BTW, so it was very very hard to find/measure them.

I take coconut oil also. I take that with my supplements and add natural coconut flakes to my smoothie, yum. :)

I use coconut oil (well, it's more like fat at room temp) once a month or so. While it's probably not the best oil "health wise" (not so much because it's almost fully saturated, but because it's pure omega-6), it is a lovely and delicious oil to fry (home made springrolls for example).

I suppose it's a balance; using healthy oils (it's not inflammation friendly, although there seem to be other benefits to coconut oil, I should read up on that) is one thing, trying to live a little bit is another. ;)

I take a good fish oil twice daily of course also, but coconut oil daily. It is so good for you. It is so interesting, I enjoy learning all about it.

Brain trauma responds to high dose fish oil:
 

Here is a fascinating story from CNN today:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/18/health...Top+Stories%29

NY Times article on fish oil--
 

--with a little emphasis on "caveat emptor".

(I suspect the Newsbot will latch on to this, but wanted to post it here as well, as so many of us take fish/krill oil and have questions about safety/potency):

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/0...l-supplements/

Thanks Glenn.... that link you put up didn't work. (one cannot copy a link off the forum posts, as they are abbreviated by the software. One has to hit "quote" and take the whole link from the quote in the text box that comes up. Or go to the source again and copy from there. I've done this myself... move links which then won't work. ;)
So I found the blog and here is the link again:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/0...ype=blogs&_r=0

It is a good article too.

Stacy at our PN forum found this on Amazon reviews about Krill oil content. Amazon remains a good source of ideas but people should realize that they are not moderated and the posters may be spammers or affiliates. But it is worth looking at too:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-...#R7KVOGSJ80Q2Y

Darn.
 

And three goes another attempt at a shortcut. :p

From now on I won't make copies of copies here.

You can get the link of the text box of "quote" of the post you want. Hit QUOTE and then in the quote copy off the url inbetween the [url] tags. The whole address appears here that way.

I remember when Cara first started her gluten project and she copied jillions of links off posts...and of course they were not working. The same thing happens if you copy whole posts to your harddrive...the links don't work in MS word. You have to copy off the QUOTE text box. ;);)
I've done it myself in the early days of our other forum before NT.

So you can still copy, it is just "how" you copy and what you copy that matters.;)

Essential fatty acids lessen ADHD:
 

Here is a new article from PsychCentral on this topic.

We learned this in our home over a decade ago, and that is why
this thread is here now.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/12...ype/78113.html

EFAs and brain trauma:
 

This link was provided by Lara on another thread, so I thought to add it here so I can find it again, and readers on this subject can see it more easily:

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/ful.../neu.2013.3234

This paper also discusses other nutrients for TBI.

Omega-3's reduce aggression in children:
 

This is interesting...

http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/05...ids/84697.html

Omega-3's may help cognition in seniors:
 

Here is another new article review from PsychCentral on
Omega-3 benefits:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/05...ors/84799.html

Omega-3s protect brain from premature aging:
 

Here is another article about the need for Omega-3s to
protect cognition in humans during aging:

https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/0...ng/120772.html