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.
