Pouring oil on troubled daughters – and sons
I continue to be fascinated by the fact that schools, physicians and psychologists in my country, the United States, seem largely in the dark on the potential benefits of high-EPA supplementation for children. Meanwhile, several significant trials for students of all ages are underway in the United Kingdom. Why do Americans put so much trust in drug companies when there are simpler, safer proven alternatives?
Today in Britain’s Yorkshire Post there was an news article about a local school that decided to take matters into its own hands and instituted an open-label fish oil trial. While at first only 24 students participated, the study expanded to 140 children when word of its success spread. Below is the full article. Enjoy…
Can daily fish oil supplements turn even the most badly behaved children into little angels? Well, almost…
Sarah Freeman reports.
Believe the hype and it’s a miracle to rival the feeding of the 5,000.
In the last few months, a daily dose of humble fish oil has been credited with preventing heart disease, easing depression, countering the asthmatic affects of air pollution and improving concentration levels among a young generation who can barely sit still long enough to say their own name.
Fish oil, along with Jamie Oliver, is officially fashionable, and so it comes as little surprise that schools across the country have been jumping on the supplement bandwagon in the hope of reducing disruptive behaviour and meeting an ever-increasing wave of government standards and objectives.
One of them is Newhall Park Primary, in Bradford.
Last April, the school, which takes in children from a relatively deprived catchment area and which each year sees more than a third of its pupils move to other areas, embarked on a fish oil trial because, according to head John Flockton, “it just seemed to be common sense”.
“It was a couple of years ago when we noticed that a significant number of pupils couldn’t even sit through the Harvest Festival,” he says. “A few of the teachers had already heard about the benefits of fish oil. They started doing some research on the internet, and what they found was very enlightening.
“I suppose we really shouldn’t be surprised, because diets have changed beyond recognition. A couple of generations ago we were all regularly eating fish and the kind of food which naturally contained Omega 3.”
For those who haven’t read the endless research, Omega 3 is fatty acid which is most readily available in oily fish, but which is virtually absent in the ready meals and convenience foods which provide much of today’s staple diet.
Having got Boots on board, Newhall Park initially selected 24 pupils, of varying abilities, to take part in the scheme, each receiving a daily supplement of fish oil, but as the weeks went by, more and more parents became aware of the benefits, and now 140 of the school’s pupils are taking part in the scheme.
Eight-year-old Ben Coghlan, who has being diagnosed with mild to moderate autism, began taking the supplements in September, and while it was never billed as a cure-all, the results have been, nonetheless, impressive.
“Ben is very specific at what he will and won’t eat,” says his mother, Debbie. “Vegetables are pretty much limited to cucumber and carrots, and even things like jam have to be a specific brand, so the fact the school has even managed to get him to take the supplements is something of a miracle.
“No-one is saying fish oil can cure autism, but there have certainly been subtle changes in Ben’s behaviour. He is much calmer and gets less frustrated when he has to sit down and read.
“The school has always been fantastic supporting his needs and this was just another way of helping him settle in. No-one expected dramatic results, but for Ben, it has been a real success.”
The school combined the use of fish oil supplements with encouraging pupils to drink water rather than additive-packed fizzy drinks, and what they call a brain gym, where children take part in activities designed to stimulate the grey matter left dulled by television and computer games.
The results will come as little surprise to fish oil converts. Anecdotally, teachers talk of a general improved level of concentration, a calmer atmosphere in the classroom, and the hard facts seem to bear them out.
On average, the reading age of children taking part in the scheme improved by more than a year, two of the fish oil guinea-pigs improved by more than two years, and one little girl, who had particular problems with co-ordination, can now walk normally for the first time in her life.
“I think more schools should look at giving pupils supplements,” says Dee Buckley, whose seven-year-old son, Jacob Smiley-Buckley, moved to Newhall Park last May.
“Starting a new school was really difficult for Jacob and he was finding it hard to interact. A lot of parents would love it if their child was really active, but Jacob almost had too much energy, he couldn’t sit for more than a few minutes. He always had to be on the go.
“He’s still the same boy, but he is a lot more focused to the extent where he will come home and start his own homework. He’s doing really well, but more importantly, he’s happy; a lot of the frustration he had before has gone.”
The school hopes to continue with the scheme on a permanent basis, but as ever, it comes down to resources. But if the overwhelming parental and teacher support is anything to go by, fish oil will continue to be on the menu for some time to come.
“It’s always been something that I have personally believed in,” says Boots nutritionist Vicky Pennington, who took the supplement through her own pregnancy and who now gives it to her young son.
“In an ideal world we would all be eating oily fish at least once or twice a week, but we don’t live in an ideal world, and supplements can be part of an overall approach to healthy living.
“Seeing the effects on this group is incredible, and I’m sure there are so many other children who could be helped.” Ω
SOURCE: Yorkshire Post