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a thousand mothers found that 88 percent of them believed that a low-fat diet was ‘ important ’ or ‘ very important ’ for their infants , and 83 percent responded that they sometimes or always avoided giving fatty foods to their children .” 7
If the brain is deprived of those macronutrients on which it evolved for over two million years , there have to be consequences . Although the causes of mental health problems are multifactorial , there is compelling evidence that fat deficiency is a significant factor and can have serious damaging effects on neurological health throughout life . DHA is perhaps the most studied of fats in terms of cognitive function , and it is known that children who lack DHA are more likely to have increased rates of neurological disorders , in particular attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) and autism .
Today , ADHD is the most frequently diagnosed neurobehavioural disorder of childhood , and it is becoming increasingly prevalent . In 2014 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that there had been a 42 percent increase in the number of children diagnosed with the condition since 2006 . In America today , 11 percent of children aged 4 to 17 live with ADHD . 9
Autism rates are rising steadily , too . During the 1990s , one in 2,500 children was identified with an autism spectrum disorder . By 2016 , that figure was approximately one in 68 .
The link between dietary fat and autism is strong , and low levels of both DHA and AA have been found in children on the autistic spectrum . In a study published in 2015 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences , the fatty acid profile of 121 autistic children , ages three through seven , was analysed and compared with children without the
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The relationship between brain size and body size is a marker for intelligence , and is known as the encephalization quotient ( EQ ). Humans have an average EQ of 7.8 — most other primates average just 2-3 .
In order to have a big brain , there has to be a compromise elsewhere , which is why humans have small , simple guts . The chimpanzee is our nearest relative , yet its colon is three times as large , so that it can digest its diet of mainly raw vegetation .
Statins , prescribed to lower cholesterol levels , are able to cross the blood-brain barrier . The FDA lists memory loss as one of the side effects of taking statins .
Because fat accumulation is so important during the last trimester of pregnancy , prematurity can lead to developmental delay in childhood and slow brain development . The lower the birth weight , the greater the risk .
“ The rapidly increasing incidence , and perhaps severity , of some psychiatric diseases suggests that , analogous to other typically Western diseases such as coronary artery disease , diabetes mellitus type 2 and some cancers ( e . g . prostate , breast , colon , lung ), we are dealing with a conflict between our contemporary lifestyle and our slowly adapting genome .” 20 condition . The autistic children were found to have levels of AA and DHA that were “ particularly decreased ”, compared to the non-autistic controls . 10
A high-fat , very low-carbohydrate diet is an established treatment for the condition . Indeed , research has found that it is a form of therapy that can , in some cases , “ completely remove the need for medication .” 11
Neurological dependency on fat continues throughout life , and so too do the consequences of insufficiency . In adults , both DHA and AA have been found to be low in patients with bipolar disease . 12 Abnormalities in fatty acid metabolism have long been implicated in the cause of schizophrenia . 13 Depression — described by the World Health Organization as “ The leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide ” 14 — is associated with DHA deficiency . 15 So too is dementia . Low DHA was described as “ a significant risk factor ” for Alzheimer ’ s as long ago as 1999 . 16
It takes around 20 years to grow a fully developed human brain . It took 2.6 million years to hone that level of sublime biochemical engineering , yet we ’ ve managed to upend it all in just a few decades . The human brain is shrinking , as confirmed by a body of research that has been accumulating since 1988 . 17 , 18 Mental health issues are rising exponentially . Let ’ s think about that , while we still can .
REFERENCES
+ 1 Cunnane SC . Survival of the Fattest : The Key to Human Brain Evolution . World Scientifi c Publishing Co . Pte . Ltd ., 2005 . + 2 Cunnane SC , Crawford MA . “ Survival of the fattest : fat babies were the key to evolution of the large human brain .” Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A : Molecular & Integrative Physiology . ( 2003 ): 136 ( 1 ) 17-26 .
+ 3 Cunnane , SC , Stewart K ( eds ). Human Brain Evolution : The Infl uence of Freshwater and Marine Food Resources . John Wiley & Sons , 2010 . + 4 Hadley KB , Ryan AS , Forsyth S , Gautier S , Salem N . “ The essentiality of arachidonic acid in infant development .” Nutrients ( 2016 ): 8 ( 4 ) p . 216 . + 5 Seneff S , Wainwright G , Mascitelli L . “ Nutrition and Alzheimer ' s disease : the detrimental role of a high carbohydrate diet .” European Journal of Internal Medicine . ( 2011 ): 22 ( 2 ) pp . 134-140 . + 6 Ben-Dor M , Gopher A , Hershkovitz , I , Barkai R . “ Man the fat hunter : the demise of Homo erectus and the emergence of a new hominin lineage in the Middle Pleistocene ( ca . 400 kyr ) Levant .” ( 2011 ) PloS one , 6 ( 12 ): e28689 . + 7 Teicholz N . The Big Fat Surprise : Why Butter , Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet . Simon and Schuster , 2014 . + 8 Bradbury J . “ Docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA ): an ancient nutrient for the modern human brain .” Nutrients ( 2011 ): 3 ( 5 ) pp . 529-554 . + 9 Visser SN , Danielson ML , Bitsko RH , Holbrook JR , Kogan MD et al . 2014 . “ Trends in the parent-report of health care provider-diagnosed and medicated attention-defi cit / hyperactivity disorder : United States , 2003 – 2011 .” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry ( 2014 ): 53 ( 1 ) pp . 34-46 . + 10 Brigandi SA , Shao H , Qian , SY , Shen Y , Wu BL et al . “ Autistic children exhibit decreased levels of essential fatty acids in red blood cells .” International Journal of Molecular Sciences ( 2015 ): 16 ( 5 ) pp . 10061-10076 . + 11 Paoli A , Rubini A , Volek JS , Grimaldi KA . “ Beyond weight loss : a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate ( ketogenic ) diets .” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition ( 2013 ): 67 ( 8 ) pp . 789-796 . + 12 Pomponi M , Janiri L , La Torre G , Di Stasio , E , Di Nicola M . et al . “ Plasma levels of n-3 fatty acids in bipolar patients : defi cit restricted to DHA .” Journal of Psychiatric Research ( 2013 ): 47 ( 3 ) pp . 337-342 . + 13 Pawełczyk T , Grancow M , Kotlicka-Antczak M , Trafalska , E , Gębski P et al .. “ Omega-3 fatty acids in first-episode schizophrenia-a randomized controlled study of efficacy and relapse prevention ( OFFER ): rationale , design , and methods .” BMC Psychiatry ( 2015 ): 15 ( 1 ) p . 97 . + 14 World Health Organization . “" Depression : let ’ s talk " says WHO , as depression tops list of causes of ill health .” WHO News Release 30 March 2017 Geneva . + http :// www . who . int / mediacentre / news / releases / 2017 / world-health-day / en / + 15 McNamara RK , Jandacek R , Rider T , Tso P , Dwivedi Y et al . “ Selective defi cits in erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid composition in adult patients with bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder .” Journal of Affective Disorders ( 2010 ): 126 ( 1 ) pp . 303-311 .
+ 16 Kyle DJ , Schaefer E , Patton G , Beiser A . “ Low serum docosahexaenoic acid is a signifi cant risk factor for Alzheimer ’ s dementia .” Lipids ( 1999 ): 34 ( 1 ) pp . S245-S245 . + 17 Henneberg M , Steyn M . “ Trends in cranial capacity and cranial index in Subsaharan Africa during the Holocene .” American Journal of Human Biology ( 1993 ). 5 ( 4 ), pp . 473-479 . + 18 Hawks J . “ Selection for smaller brains in Holocene human evolution .” arXiv preprint arXiv : 1102.5604 ( 2011 ). + 19 Padala KP , Padala PR , McNeilly DP , Geske JA , Sullivan DH et al . ( 2012 ). “ The effect of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors on cognition in patients with Alzheimer ' s dementia : a prospective withdrawal and rechallenge pilot study .” The American Journal of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy ( 2012 ): 10 ( 5 ) 296-302 + 20 Muskiet FA , Kemperman , RF “ Folate and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in psychiatric disease .” The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry ( 2006 ): 17 ( 11 ) pp . 717-727 .
16 January 2018 Paleo Magazine Express