Omega-3s Improve Nervous System Function

WASHINGTONTwo omega-3 essential fatty acids commonly found in fatty fish appear to improve nervous system function, according to a new study published in Behavioral Neuroscience. The finding connects low omega-3s to the information-processing problems found in people with schizophrenia; bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders; Huntingtons disease; and other nervous system disorders.

According to the study, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) appear to be most useful in the nervous system because they maintain nerve-cell membranes.

A reported by Newswise, researchers fed four different diets with no or varying types and amounts of omega-3s to four groups of pregnant mice and then their offspring. They measured how the offspring, once grown, responded to a classic test of nervous-system function in which healthy animals are exposed to a sudden loud noise. Normally, animals flinch; however, they flinch much less when they hear a softer tone in advance. It appears that normal nervous systems use that gentle warning to prepare instinctively for future stimuli, an adaptive process called sensorimotor gating.

Only the mice raised on DHA and EPA, but not their precursor of LNA, showed normal, adaptive sensorimotor gating by responding in a significantly calmer way to the loud noises that followed soft tones. The mice in all other groups, when warned, were startled nearly as much by the loud sound. When DHA was deficient, the nervous system most obviously did not downshift. That resulted in an abnormal state that could leave animals perpetually startled and easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli.