The Benefits of Omega 3

Wendy Turner Webster: Many nutritionists believe that Omega-3 fatty acid found in oily fish is an essential part of healthy diet. Recent research indicates it might also improved concentration and mental development in young children. MumOmega is a food supplement that targets this market. Cathra Kelliher is the founder of Equazen, the company that makes MumOmega and it's her lovely daughter Jasmine. We are also joined by Senior Educational Psychologist, Dr Madeleine Portwood as well as Olaya Youssfi and her baby Amera. Welcome to you all we got full sofa. Right, Dr Portwood, what exactly is fatty acid? Dr Madeleine Portwood: Right fatty acids are really essential nutrients that we need throughout life but no more so than during pregnancy and through early development they have two particular functions one they form cell membranes so they are essential for brain development and they also are essential for sending messages between the nerve cells so the brain is determined through our pregnancy and its essential that mothers and young babies have accessed to particular fatty acids called Omega-3. Wendy Turner Webster: And I mentioned in the introduction that it can, well this research going on it says it helps with development in concentration and stuff like that what do you make of that? Dr Madeleine Portwood: I have actually done a lot of work and the research that we done we looked to children, want to study children aged six to eleven where we measured children's ability to concentrate and the improvements were so dramatic that in three months of the trial some of the children improved their reading ages for example by as much as four years. When we looked at younger children we got children from eighteen months to three and half years what we saw with those children is that the effect of bonding with parents because children now a days are more hyperactive than ever before and we have to make some suggestions as to why this is the case diet is fundamental and what we saw with the very young children was that supplementation with MumOmega was making the children concentrate better, the children's language develop because they are spending more time talking with their parents and that had a really positive impact when the children went to nursery. Wendy Turner Webster: Okay Olaya, look she is falling asleep, Oh what's your experience if this be? Olaya Youssfi: I started taking MumOmega when I was in that three months, friend suggested it, while friend suggested and I lost my appetite when I was pregnant anyway. So taking one capsule kind of Wendy Turner Webster: Did you notice anything physically about yourself or did you just know that you are getting this supplement? Olaya Youssfi: I mean yeah I knew always getting this supplement but also I mean other people noticed. Wendy Turner Webster: Oh really? Olaya Youssfi: Oh yeah, I was, they commented that my skin was glowing when I was pregnant, I just looked healthy, my hair grew and Wendy Turner Webster: Do you still take it now? Did you take it after? Olaya Youssfi: Yeah, since I can get now. Wendy Turner Webster: Okay, Cathra what inspired you to produce this product? Cathra Kelliher: Well my husband and I started Equazen about six years ago which is a company that manufactures essential fatty acid products and we basically realized what many studies have shown that the essential fatty acids that are needed for a baby while developing in the mother's womb and up to about two years of age are actually are different in ratio, really the ratio is different fatty acids you need during that period once you need approximately at the age of two. We had worked a lot with children, older children but really a lot of with my own pregnancies there was actually nothing oops excuse me Jasmine, there was actually noting on the market that reflected these essential fatty acid combination needed for the babies and young toddlers which is why we developed MumOmega and we have one product type of that, that mothers can take during pregnancy and is particularly important during the last climax of your pregnancy when the baby's brain and eye development is happening very, very rapidly. And then really as an infant often to the age of two we have these as Jasmine is liking to demonstrate here capsules that can actually go direct into baby's milk bottle. A little squeeze, Jasmine don't shake, sure Wendy there is a little capsule on that, that will twisted off top that you can see squeeze. So these are specifically for children upto pregnant mom and children up to the age of two where they really wasn't anything out there in the market and that reflected that need and I have grown up with essentially fatty acids my father, Dr. David Harborne was one of the essential fatty acids and so he said grew up with the whole story and he said a basic knowledge of the science behind it and I am really I have got, we have got four children, Jasmine is the youngest. I have got three sons and Jasmine and really the evolution of our company Equazen is a sort of happened in parallel with our evolution as a family and we sort of try to run the business of our family which is realizing that its exactly quite, quite a big step to feed yourself for instance when you are pregnant but then of course to feed your own children, anything really you want to know that its good for them where its coming from that actually we are doing them some good, and so really we have reflected that in MumOmega and other products that we have developed. Wendy Turner Webster: Now what about for people actually myself I am vegan and my two little boys are vegetarian so what we see this isn't product that I personally would take. Where can you get these fatty acids from if they are not from fish? Cathra Kelliher: Well yeah I mean that's a hard question there are two types of Omega oils. Omega 3 and Omega 6 that go into these products in different combination and really the EPA which is one of part of what goes into MumOmega and other products like it, its actually very hard to get from anywhere else apart from oily fish you can find essentially fatty acids, Omega oils in green leafy vegetables, nuts, but I would of course recommend every pregnant women, every mother everyone to really maintain healthy. The thing is that through the omega oil that you are actually getting in oily fish is actually in a slightly different format further down the metabolic pathway then the omega oils that you are getting through your leafy green vegetables and in your nuts. So its slightly harder for you to metabolize that in your body and they all said in fact it just can interrupt that metabolism such as stress, various conditions, preservatives, additives and foods and so as a vegetarian vegan as they eat as much as you can of these nuts and leafy vegetables and really you are not actually going to manage to replace what you would get in fish oil. Wendy Turner Webster: I supposed its true to say as well as with any vitamin or supplement not to take it as through laziness really either to maintain the balance diet and take it as a supplement rather than a easy way to just to get those things. Cathra Kelliher: Want to know I mean absolutely as a saying, as a parent myself absolutely gone through all the concerns and worries and sense of responsibility from my own children and clearly I would say taking this supplement as a matter of informed choice rather than as you would say some laziness really find I mean that you should always have a healthy diet but certainly the omega oils that we have in capsules are actually its actually quite hard to mimic one the concentration and two the quantity three taking oily fish and I think it have one two reflects what you get from same course of month, a month of MumOmega pregnancy you would have to take something like 15 to 20 portions of oily fish a months which is actually quite hard thing to do, can you imagine quite hard to get into so, yeah. So it is an much easier and sensible way of getting you some type of omega oils and where else it would be really, really quite difficult to maintain those levels through in a normal diet and would be as I said clearly and is important anyway and we got lot more information about this in on our website. Wendy Turner Webster: Yes, that's be a good place to get Cathra Kelliher: www.equazen.com, so we have all the information of that nutrition and everything else, execuse me, Jasmine -- Wendy Turner Webster: The research that you mentioned earlier, just go in to a bit more detail about that for a moment? Dr Madeleine Portwood: I think you know we looked at children's diets and taking a step further backward to look at parent's diet and what we have discovered as clinicians is that there are more and more children having problems with behavior and learning that starting much earlier but we are also finding more women in pregnancy are suffering things like you know depression pre and post natal depression and that seems to relate directly again to these essentially omega 3 fatty acids and clinicians across the world are saying this so what we have to look at is protecting the mother and as Cathra mentioned it isn't just about the Omega 3 fatty acids that we getting in fish. Our diets have been become too heavy and the other fatty acids Omega 6 and they used to be a balance because we are having more and more Omega 6s we have going and you mentioned you know vegetarianism we are going heavily towards corn oils and sunflower oils and for example if we look at ratios in sunflower oil for example the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratios is 632 to 1 if we had corn oil it was 56, if you go for olive oil its 11 to 1. So we need to look at our diets and choose corn oil, red seed oil is even better than sunflower oils so vegetarians need to really examine the diets to make sure that they are looking at products that have high levels of Omega 6 for example cheese and dairy products good Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratios but because our diets are so heavily abundant in 6s that's why we are going depression. There are more and more women suffering severe postnatal depression and for those just eating more fishes the answer and a nutritional supplement that's giving high levels of Omega 3 enables them to realize that diet is having a dramatic effect so if the supplement is working then you are going to look at how do I get more natural Omega 3 automating Wendy Turner Webster: So, just go through with me again as a vegetarian in .my case vegan where would I do by best to get it from? Dr Madeleine Portwood: It's about getting a balance so nuts and seeds are fine, olive oil is fine to cook in. Dairy purchase is okay but you need to start avoiding the products that have high levels of omega 6 and a you also need to be avoiding hydrogenated products so for example yeah what is fine once you start going in to once you hydrogenate your olive oil to reproduce the product that you can spread on your bread and you will multiplying these ratios very heavily so as a vegetarian look at red seed oil and olive oil, avoid things like sunflower oils and corn oils and try very hard to reduce the success this is so important for mothers particularly pregnant mothers, look at the diets and do the best because we know that in utero the baby's brain is developing and the researches that have shown that brain actually expands when you have these high levels of omega 3s. Wendy Turner Webster: So, Cathra could any of these be psychological or you are happy that its actually clinical proved. Cathra Kelliher: Oh absolutely, no I mean they very clearly shown that this is that while for start what the ratio of omega oils in MumOmega is actually a reflection of worth some breast milk. And so we know that as a matter I was saying that breast milk nicely strips the mother's brains. The body will provide the baby before it provides for the mother. So, during breast feeding the baby is getting hopefully the essential fatty acids that it needs, doesn't necessarily mean it's the optimum and so two things one the mother is actually being strict of it, secondly I think it's a WHO guideline say that the optimum breastfeeding time is two years. I breast-fed all my children for a year and they are always doing very well. I do understand that its nearly impossible for most mothers or many mothers and so we really what we are trying to do is one help the baby while its in the mom, get what it needs, help mom replenish what she is loosing through pregnancy and through breastfeeding and then once breastfeeding is stopped because it will still get in some of her mom's milk when she craves. Because once they stop really happen to the age of two, it was WHO recommends really reflecting what the baby should be getting breast milk. Wendy Turner Webster: Oh, we will talk so much we put her to sleep. I better look for some alternatives. Thank you very much; it's been fascinating, thank you for coming in all of you. Dr Madeleine Portwood: Thank you.