Recently I had the pleasure of covering a remarkable story about a little boy whose epileptic seizures were halted after he was put on a ketogenic diet. His parents, Troy and Kristine Irvine, are strong Christians who sought God's direction in the healing of their 4-year-old son, Max.
God led the Irvines to the world-famous Mayo Clinic and into the loving care of a gifted doctor, Elaine Wirrell.
Dr. Wirrell put Max on a diet that was 80-percent fat! She says fat has been proven to improve cognitive function. She took a chance that, in flooding Max's brain with fat while depriving it almost entirely of other food sources, like carbohydrates, that his seizures might disappear.
She was right. Little Max was taken off all medications and put on the ketogenic diet more than a year ago and hasn't had a single seizure since then. It's a miracle.
Poor Max was having a hundred seizures a day and had lost the ability to talk and walk. Now he's living life like a normal boy. Praise God! And God bless the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Wirrell, the Irvines and all the people who helped them along the way with advice and prayers for Max's healing.
Although the ketogenic diet is NOT recommended for improving the brain function of healthy people, all of us can take something away from this story. That is, the importance fat plays in the way our brain works. Our brains are comprised of 60-percent fat. So if someone calls you a "fathead" don't be offended! That's what we want!
We should be feeding our brain with fat.....we just have to be careful it's the right kind of fat, and that is Omega-3 fats, and of the Omega-3 fats, specifically DHA.
The scientific data proving the link between DHA consumption and the improvement of brain function is overwhelming. DHA has been shown to improve learning in young people and prevent memory loss in old people. DHA is most abundant in fish, especially fatty, cold-water fish, like salmon.
But wait. Before you start eating fish every day, keep in mind the dangers of doing so. Unfortunately, fish contains mercury. Consuming too much mercury can be very harmful to your health. Therefore doctors recommend only eating fish about three times a week. So most doctors also recommend DHA supplements.
DHA can be found in Fish Oil tablets or Algal tablets. Dr. Michael Roizen, author of several best-selling health books and Wellness Director at the Cleveland Clinic, recommends healthy people taking 600 to 900 milligrams of DHA each day. If you choose to get your DHA from Fish Oil, just make sure you check-out the label, and see how much DHA is in each tablet.
For example, the Fish Oil tablets that I take each day contain 250 mg of DHA per tablet. So I take three of them each day. For those who don't like taking that many supplements, you may prefer the Algal tablets. Check out the label. You'll probably notice about 600-900 mg of DHA in just one Algal tablet. The DHA in Algal tablets come from algae, which is where the fish get it. Often you'll be getting only DHA from the Algal tablet, whereas the Fish Oil tablets also contain EPA, which is another Omega-3. I like getting them both!
Before you get carried away on the fat train, keep a couple things in mind: being overweight causes decreases cognitive function, so even if you're eating the right kind of fat, be careful not to eat too many calories.
Also trans fats have been shown to decrease cognitive function, too. So stay away from trans fats, otherwise known as "hydrogenated oils" or "partially hydrogenated oils" that are common ingredients in processed baked goods, such as the ones you'll find in the cracker-and-cookie aisle at the grocery store.
And of course, stay away from saturated fats. These are the ones that come from animals with four legs. they have been shown to cause heart disease. Do, however, eat polyunsaturated fats. These are your Omega-3s, and fats that are in nuts, avacados, flax and olive oil.