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| Fish for Brain |  You probably know that health authorities typically advise the eating of two or three servings of fish for every week for most people. The reason is the following – fatty, cold-water fish contain healthy omega-3 fats (DHA and EPA). Such fishes as sardines, salmon, mackerel, and fresh tuna are rich sources of these marine omega-3 fats.
There are some facts to demonstrate that deprived dietary intakes or low blood levels of these omega-3 fats can lead to learning difficulties, behavioral problems, and mental illness. This may point out a strong relationship between eating fish and brain development.
60% of the brain is made up of fat. But not just any kind of fat – DHA and EPA are good fats. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is significant for normal brain functioning and vision development. The enlarged cleverness and academic presentation of breastfed in comparison with formula-fed babies has been attributed partly to the increased amount of DHA in human milk.
People whose diet is rich in DHA have a lesser frequency of degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, like multiple sclerosis. Some children with ADHD and poor school performance have been exposed to have deficient DHA in their diet.
EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) is also vital in brain and eye development and functioning. EPA has been known to cure depression, bipolar disorder, Huntington's chorea, chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis), obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.
Dr Shawn Somerset of the School of Public Health at Griffith University in Australia say: “No study has proved that eating more fish will make you smarter.”
So it is not true that the more fish you eat, the smarter you become. If this were so, then Eskimos, who probably eat the largest amounts of fish as any people anywhere in the world, would all be geniuses. Thus far having survived for so many centuries in such a roughly callous environment, perhaps they are.
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