Is our government using 30 minutes of research to take away one of the most important and proven supplements for your brain?
It’s happening right under our noses — and plenty of doctors and reporters are falling for it.
You may have seen the story splashed all over the news last week. A new study is claiming that decades of science is wrong and that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil won’t do a thing to protect your brain or prevent Alzheimer’s, dementia or cognitive decline.
And there’s nothing that mainstream medicine — or the press — likes more than a study attacking supplements.
But I did some digging around and it turns out you wouldn’t trust the scientists behind this study any farther than you could throw them.
They’re basing their findings on research that lasted about as long as your favorite sitcom — and the consequences will be no laughing matter for anyone who follows their advice.
30 minutes of nonsense
If you needed a triple bypass, I’m guessing you wouldn’t go to a knee surgeon. And if you’re looking for advice on how to prevent Alzheimer’s, you probably wouldn’t turn to an eye specialist.
But that’s exactly what Dr. Emily Chew and every media outlet that reported on her research are asking you to do.
You see, Dr. Chew is the lead researcher on this study you’re hearing so much about — the one that claims it didn’t find any evidence that omega-3s can improve your memory or stop cognitive decline.
That’s almost as believable as a study claiming that water won’t get you wet. Your brain actually depends on omega-3s to function — and you can only get them through diet and supplements.
How did Dr. Chew and her colleagues come up with such an unbelievable finding — one that contradicts years of science and could actually harm patients who cut back on omega-3s?
Well, what you might not have heard on the evening news is that Dr. Chew isn’t a brain scientist or a memory expert. And she doesn’t work for some Alzheimer’s research foundation or a university studying cognitive decline.
She works for the government’s National Eye Institute — and she specializes in the retina.
So what exactly qualifies Dr. Chew — or the NEI for that matter — to conduct a study on Alzheimer’s and brain health?
Absolutely nothing. And, for the most part, they didn’t conduct a study at all.
You see, Dr. Chew and her colleagues were researching around 4,000 people to see whether omega-3s and other supplements like lutein could help slow age-related macular degeneration.
And the supplements worked, just as they had in previous NEI research.
But here’s where things get crazy.
Since they already had thousands of volunteers enrolled — and since these folks were taking omega-3s anyway — Dr. Chew and her team of “retinal specialists” decided to test their memories, too.
Not with anything thorough like brain scans or personal examinations, mind you. But with three phone calls, spread out over five years — using a test that usually runs for about 10 minutes.
Imagine talking to someone you don’t even know — a complete stranger — for half an hour or so over 60 months. Do you think you’d be able to tell whether their memory was improving?
But mere minutes of research was all it took for Dr. Chew (and the media that covered her study) to set aside years of science on omega-3s and fish oil and claim you should stop taking them for your brain.
Well, before you toss those fish oil capsules in the trash, let me set the record straight on omega-3s — using some real research by scientists who actually knew what they were doing: In 2011, a large study at Rhode Island Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Center found that people taking fish oil supplements had better recall, clearer thinking, and their brains were larger. That’s important because the brain tends to shrink with Alzheimer’s.
Just last May, a study out of the University of Illinois found that those who consume more DHA and EPA — two kinds of omega-3s found in fish oil — had much better “cognitive flexibility.” That’s a fancy way to say you’re better at multi-tasking and problem solving.
A study from the Alzheimer’s Association found that elderly people with memory problems improved their memory after just six months of taking DHA every day.
And I could keep going. But unfortunately, far too many people will just read those new headlines and miss out on the amazing benefits of getting enough omega-3s from their diets and supplements.
It’s just a shame that so many reporters were too dimwitted to spot a worthless study when they saw one.
Maybe we should get them some fish oil.
Sources:
“Omega-3 supplements don’t improve memory: Study” Alice Park, August 25, 2015, Time, time.com
