Credit for this entry should go to our friends at menopauseRx. I liked it os much I decided to add it: Thanks

I talked today with an old friend who has a nice business  - see www.menscience.com

In addition to creams, lotions, astringents, he also sells a very few nutritional products including Omega-3 fish oil. Fred commented that he is not very succesful with omega-3 supplements and mused why. He mentioned that the one product in his entire range that he, his wife and children and employees and friends make sure that they do take is concentrated omega-3 and that they would go without every other product before they stopped their fish oil supplements, yet his customers don't seem to have the same approach. We wondered if this was because his customers are attracted to his products beacuse they are focused on how they look, more than whether they are healthy. I also joked that maybe if he said that omega-3 would give you 6 pack abs and the endurarnce for long nights of passion, then maybe his mainly male customers would have more appetite!

Of course the irony is that health is beauty. If you are healthy, you have the energy to exercise and be fit and if you can do that you will look good. Omega-3 supplements will protect your cardiovascular system, so you have a strong foundation for fitness. These same fish oil supplements will help maintain healthy joint mobility so you can run, walk, swim, bike or whatever you like to do and they will even help improve your mood - so its easier to smile and we all know that we look much better when we smile. So lets hope that Menscience's customers get this message loud and clear - its OK to care about how you look, but make sure that you are building on a healthy foundation - that way the cosmetic efforts will be much easier and far more effective.

Oh and last of all - Omega-3 supplements also help to increase blood flow - and gentlemen, we all know what that is good for...............

Today, I was asked whether any prestigious institutions like the American Medical Association, currently recommend that children receive omega-3 to help with learning, concentration, add/adhd etc. I must admit I gave rather a long-winded answer about the fact that The American Heart Association and the FDA and various other august bodies now endorse Omega-3 but it took decades to get them there and that most other countries were far ahead. I also rattled on about the fact that the US was the last developed country to approve DHA (one of the key omega 3s) to be added to infant formula. The person who asked me then surprised me as she said - it doesn't have to be an American Institution - we live in an internet world with all information from all sources accessible to almost everyone. So then I pointed her to published research in a prestigious journal and lo and behold that journal is actually American - it is the Journal - Pediatrics - published by the American Academy of Pediatrics no less. She said "Roy, just because our institutions are behind the times, don't assume that our researchers and publsihers are also behind the times!" Anyway the research was done by the UK government and Oxford University and involved more than 100 children at 12 schools. The chief researcher - Dr. Madeline Portwood said: " The response has been very encouraging........ We saw that up to 40 percent.............. showed dramatic improvements. In some cases we saw reading gains of between 18 months and four years and attentioan gains as much as 400 per cent"

 This initial study has been followed by three more trials for pre-school, K through 4th grade and Middle School and upwards. You can read about them in detail at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/115/5/1360

 The conclusion was "significant improvements for active treatment versus placebo were found in reading, spelling, and behavior over 3 months of treatment in parallel groups. After the crossover, similar changes were seen in the placebo-active group, whereas children continuing with active treatment maintained or improved their progress.