Your brain is under assault daily. Some fish oil can defend against damage.

A few days ago, I told you that we shouldn’t expect miracles from a daily fish oil supplement.

Fish oil benefits for your heart and brain are indisputable. But it’s unreasonable to expect a supplement to be a silver bullet.

But now…I take it all back.

As I’ve just found out, there are cases where fish oil produces astonishing results. And these results are so extraordinary, it really is tempting to call them miracles.

Bricks in the wall

A recent CNN report tells the story of two men with traumatic brain injuries.

One man, injured in a car accident, was in a coma and close to death for days. His Glasgow Coma Score was 3. His doctor told CNN, “A piece of wood has a Glasgow Coma Score of 3.”

The other man was trapped in a collapsed coal mine for 41 hours. Methane and carbon monoxide exposure caused massive brain damage, a heart attack, and liver and kidney malfunction.

Both of these men returned to near normal health after doctors started giving them about 20 grams of fish oil each day.

Amazingly, the father of the car accident victim had to fight to get fish oil therapy for his son. His doctors resisted. They said there was not enough evidence behind the treatment. The patient was near death, and yet the father had to coerce doctors to use a non-drug therapy!

Three months after the accident, the young man attended his high school graduation.

The doctor who recommended fish oil for the boy explained how the “miracle” worked. He told CNN that about one third of the human brain is omega-3 fatty acids. He calls omega-3s “the bricks of the cell wall in the brain.”

In addition, omega-3s in fish oil help prevent brain damage by switching on genes that stop neuroinflammation.

Going forward, this therapy could be a game-changer for hundreds of thousands in the U.S. who suffer brain injuries each year.

But you don’t have to experience brain trauma to reap benefits.

I talked to Dr. Spreen about this, and he agreed that our brains experience mild damage all the time. Our gray matter is under constant assault from exhaust fumes, cleaning agents, junk in our food, excess alcohol use, smoking, electromagnetic waves, etc.

As Dr. Spreen put it, “The list is truly endless.”

There’s probably not a single one of us who couldn’t use the neuroprotection offered by just two or three grams of fish oil daily.

Sources:
“Fish oil helped save our son” Stephanie Smith, CNN, 10/22/12, cnn.com