All very good questions that most people cannot answer. I’m going to answer all these questions in today’s article, because this nutrient is essential to optimum health. Omega 3s are essential fatty acids, meaning the body doesn’t make them on its own, we need to consume them. Omega 3s benefit us even prior to being born with respect to fetal development especially the brain, eyes and heart.

They have been shown to reduce:

• Triglycerides
• Cholesterol
• Blood pressure
• Inflammation
• Risk of heart disease
• Risk of complications of metabolic syndrome
• Risk of blood clots
• Risk of dementia

Since 1⁄3 of the American population suffers from one or more of the above conditions, Omega 3s are an easy way to support our overall health. However, we do need to be careful with the type of Omegas we consume. There are three types of omegas; 3s, 6s, and 9s. There is a big difference between the 6s, which are in abundance in our diet, and the 3s which are less so, but provide the most help.

The body craves a ratio of 1:1 to 1:2 for Omega 3:Omega 6. The Standard
American Diet (SAD) provides a ratio closer to 1:20 to 1:30…

…the problem with this ratio is that it is pro-inflammatory. Inflammation leads to pain and the breakdown of healthy tissues, such as the linings of our blood vessels (measured by C reactive protein on your blood labs). Omega 6 sources are vegetable oils, canola, corn, safflower, meat, poultry and eggs. So you can see these are not all bad foods, some are essential to our healthy diet, however, I do try to avoid the vegetable oils mentioned above. Look at things like your salad dressing and over-the counter vitamins; your big box store omega 3 supplments will even have safflower oil and corn oil in them! Bad, Bad! In addition to avoiding the non-essential bad fats (especially if they are heated up as in fried foods), I will add good fats like avocado and coconut oils.

Omega 3 sources are salmon (wild caught, not farmed), tuna in water, sardines, herring, and quality Omega 3 supplements that have not been heated up. There are also vegetarian sources of Omega 3s such as flax, chia and leafy greens, and although they are good fats they are not as strongly recommended as sources of EPA and DHA, because they are short chain Omega 3s and the body has to convert them to longer chain EPA and DHA in order to use it. It is a very inefficient process and only 1% of the ALA (alpha linolenic acid) found in vegetarian sources is converted into the long chain version the body needs.

Recommendations for daily intake of EPA and DHA is around 250-500 mg/day, however those with heart problems, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, allergies, and arthritis may benefit from up to 4,000 mg or 4 grams per day. You can also get some of that from your dietary intake of fatty fish. I recommend 2-3 servings per week.

You may be wondering how do you know if you’re getting enough?

It just so happens that we have access to a new at home test to measure Omega 3s, the Omega-3 Index Test from OmegaQuant! There are 64 fatty acids on a red blood cell and an ideal range is 8-12% of those fatty acids being Omega 3s. The average American is at or below 4%. Research shows that those with 8-12% have the lowest risk factors and the best overall heart health, brain health, and eye health. Knowing your score gives you peace of mind, especially if you have a family history or currently are dealing with any of the risk factors listed above.

For the months of May and June (2021) we will be having a special rate of $60 for a test kit. We will register it for you and you can pick it up or we can send it to you. Follow the easy instructions, send it in, and I will review it with you when we get the results.

Have more questions? Here are some useful links for the Omega-3 Index Test!

Research Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiYf8Cu92cY
How to do the Test: thttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEOLfDRCNJc

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916-844-2800

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So why are dementia, Alzheimers, stroke and other forms of brain disorders on the rise?

Let’s explore some of those questions so that we can avoid being a statistic in this very disturbing trend.

The brain is one of the first things to develop when we are conceived, and it is the most important organ. The nervous system, of which the brain is a large part, controls and coordinates all the functions of the body. The brain consists of several parts, the gray matter, the cerebellum, the temporal lobes, the parietal and frontal lobe, the hypothalamus and pituitary that control the hormonal system, and all the other very important components. It cannot function well without the proper nutrients. You may know that from our earliest development, we are dependent on certain vitamins and minerals, fats and nutrients to have a healthy functioning brain. Without folic acid for example our neural canal does not form correctly and we might get spina bifida, without enough good fats they have determined that we will have a smaller brain than we should. When certain nutrients are deficient like protein, we don’t make the neurotransmitters or the chemicals that run the brain, resulting in conditions like depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, and more.

The brain is like a very complicated switch board. Information goes both ways, incoming information from the body is processed and instructions regarding that information goes out to the body in response to either correct a problem or make a change. For example, lets say that you come up to a hot stove, as you get nearer the temperature is hotter and hotter.

How does the brain respond?

• It might make your blood vessels larger to increase the ability of the body to cool off.
• It might make your sweat glands activate.
• It might cause you to move away from the heat.
• All this happens without your conscious thought, thankfully!

Many of our automatic processes are controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). For example, you have been exposed to some chemicals and need to process some trash out of the bloodstream, its probably a good thing that we don’t have to tell the liver and kidneys to do their job or keep track of those processes.

The brain is intricately involved in many of our conscious and unconscious bodily functions. If however we have some damage or faulty nerve transmissions we need to go about figuring out the problem and providing support in a non invasive way if at all possible. Damage to the brain can occur due to many things. Our modern food supply is nutrient deficient due to processing and our desire to create a longer shelf life. The chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis in our water, air, food, the genetically modified food we eat, and the toxins in our environment, and body care products can all contribute to the body’s inability to remove trash and maintain healthy cell function.

I recently read a book about early brain surgery and since they didn’t know that certain parts of the brain were connected to certain activities, they used the early brain damaged patients as guinee pigs so to speak. They would take out parts of the brain, and wait to see what happened. Then they could document the changes and use that information for future purposes (The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons by Sam Kean). Fortunately for us, that was a long time ago and we now have the modern conveniences of MRIs, CT scans and PET scans. They can determine exactly where the lesion is and deal with it as we choose. Some of the conditions that can adversely affect the brain are discovered on scans, some on bloodwork, but many, to be honest, are discovered by the family members or patients themselves. We are the ones who find little differences that stick out on a day to day basis. The earlier we handle these issues the better. They tend to be progressive and nutrition has been shown to be a huge part of repair.

SOME OF THE MOST COMMON CONDITIONS THAT CAN AFFECT THE BRAIN ARE:

• Alzheimers (AD)
• Dementia
• Type 2 Diabetes (T2D)
• Stroke
• High Blood Pressure (HBP)
• Medication Side Effects
• Parkinson’s

You may know someone with one or more of these conditions, I have helped many patients with these conditions, but not without their cooperation. You see, these and many other health concerns are often self-inflicted. I know that seems weird, who would give themselves a stroke or T2D? No one in their right mind, right?

Dr. Suzanne DeLaMonte from the Alpert Medical School at Brown University is a Neuropathologist, she states that Alzheimers and other forms of dementia are a result of diabetes of the brain. For some of you this is a very real issue since one in three adults today has pre-diabetes or is a diabetic. Pre-diabetes is having a Hemoglobin A1C of 5.7 or higher and diabetes is having a Hemoglobin A1C level of 6.1 or higher, depending on the lab and part of the country you live in. Ideally your 3 month average of blood sugar should be between 4.1 and 5.6.

So how does high blood sugar affect the brain long term? The pancreas makes insulin, insulin takes sugar out of the blood stream, takes it into the cells and makes energy. If we abuse sugar, or things that turn into sugar, then the pancreas overproduces insulin and the insulin receptors get down-regulated, leaving the blood sugar to get higher and higher. When blood sugar is elevated, the red blood cells (RBC’s) get glycated, or sugar coated, like an M&M. The sugar coating process is like having razor wire on your RBCs and they can cause damage when they travel down the tiny capillaries. This micro-circulation damage can affect our kidneys, cardiovascular system, eyes and brain.  Recent studies have shown that in addition to the pancreas, the brain also makes insulin, that shows just how important insulin is to the brain! 

In Alzheimers, the parts of the brain that are damaged by lack of insulin are the parts that deal with memory and personality. This is why its so difficult for family members taking care of a loved one with this condition. Insulin is very important for making chemicals known as neurotransmitters, these chemicals allow the different parts of the brain to communicate with each other.

So are Type 2 Diabetics more likely to get Alzheimers? YES, twice as likely. It does not mean that all people with T2D will get Alzheimers, or that all people with Alzheimers have T2D, but there is a lot of overlap. We need to reduce our dietary exposure to sugar, excess fruit, and processed grains, as all of these things create an insulin response and can lead to higher blood sugar levels and an elevated Hemoglobin A1C. Prevention is so important when it comes to the brain.

While, there are some who say that Alzheimers is a genetic issue, the ability of humans to change their genes takes generations and Alzheimers has been increasing in both frequency and severity over the past 30 years, so there must be an epi-genetic reason for the upsurge. Epigenetics is another word for environmental. One popular environmental cause has been linked to nitrates. Nitrates are in our fertilizers, preservatives in and on our food, and they are added to meats to retain color and flavor. They are added to foods that travel a long distance from Chile, Mexico and across the country without spoiling. Fish, cheese, hot dogs, ground beef, smoked meats like bacon, smoked turkey and ham, as well as beer and tobacco may have nitrates or nitrosamines in them. You can find alternative without nitrates and nitrites, and we should all strive to avoid them whenever possible. Recent research has shown that very low limited exposure to nitrosamines found in food can cause Alzheimers type brain degeneration, dementia, diabetes, fatty liver disease and obesity.

HOW CAN WE REDUCE OUR RISK?

Avoid exposure whenever possible. Look for sodium nitrite on food labels. Avoid processed foods, eat organically grown food whenever possible, and if that is not possible, at least eat locally grown food. Get educated about the harmful effects of chemicals in our food chain and educate children in your life and provide healthy choices. By packing a healthy lunch the night before work or school, you can avoid the processed or fast food options.

FOOD SUBSTITUTIONS THAT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

• Bananas ——————–Berries
• Soda ————————Water / Iced Tea
• Potatoes ——————–Sweet Potatoes
• Corn ————————Quinoa or Brown / Wild Rice
• Peanuts ———————Any Other Nut
• Fruit juice ——————Water / Tea
• Wheat ———————–Quinoa / Brown Rice / Oats
• Refined Sugar—————Stevia / Monkfruit / Raw Honey

What if you’re already eating a great diet, you’ve made that jump, and you need to do some repairs for damage done in your prior years? Here is a micro-circulation support protocol you can add to your daily food prep.

MICRO-CURCULATION SUPPORT PROTOCOL FOR MEAL PREP

• Garlic: Preferably crushed raw, you can add it to salad dressing, eggs, veggies, meat etc.
• Ginger: In water, a smoothie, or just chew it.
• Turmeric: A good quality, concentrated, bioavailable product like MediHerb’s turmeric with fenugreek.
• Berries: 3 oz. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries per day.
• Dark Chocolate: At least 70% cacao, about 1 ounce per day is medicinal!
• Beets: Roasted or juiced. If boiled, drink the water, it’s where all the nutrients are.

Exercise such as yoga, tai chi, meditation, strength exercises, biking and walking all contribute to maintaining a healthier blood sugar level and a happier brain.

STANDARD PROCESS & MEDIHERB BRAIN SUPPORT PRODUCTS

• Tuna Omega 3 Oil
• Bacopa
• RNA
• Ginkgo Forte
• Turmeric Forte
• Neuroplex
• OPC Synergy

If you or a loved one is having brain or memory issues, call our office to find out if dietary changes and some of these products might be the first step towards a healthier life!

CONTACT:

Dr. Virginia S. Irby D.C.,DABCO, ACN

Cascade Chiropractic

2371 Iron Point Rd. Ste. 130

Folsom, CA 95630

916-844-2800