Eric Hartwell's InfoDabble

Saturday, May 07, 2005

[Mind Hacks 5/6/2005] The Guardian discusses the growing evidence for a link between fatty acids, brain function and behaviour in a story that focuses on the potential effects on visual problems, dyslexia and difficulties with attention. Some 40% of the children given Omega-3 essential fat supplements made dramatic improvements in reading and spelling, averaging progress of more than nine months in just three months. The control group made just the normal progress of three months. After three months, the control group switched from placebos to active supplements, and showed similar leaps in progress. In another randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, Bernard Gesch gave a course of supplements containing essential fatty acids and key vitamins and minerals to prisoners in one of Britain's maximum security prisons. The inmates were responsible for some of the highest levels of prison violence in the UK. The number of serious offences, including violence, by the prisoners, fell by nearly 40% in those taking the supplements but not at all in those not taking them. To Gesch, the case is just "bleeding obvious".