DHA help please

[lisle]

What is the ratio of DHA to EPA recommended for a 12 yr. old boy? He has cholesterol prob too so I don't want to go too down on the EPA. Right now I am giving him 860 DHA and 640 EPA. We are using one Carlson's Super DHA which is 500 DHA and 100EPA and also three Max EPA by NOW, which is two capsules contain 360 EPA and 240 DHA. Whew! Am I confused. We used to use just four capsules of EPA but I found they didn't make any difference (except improving cholesterol); after reading the strands on DHA I switched to this.
What do you think? I am thinking his focus might be better. Don't know for sure. I thought a lot of DHA was only needed in early childhood.
lisle

[lisle]

I mistyped. I meant to say we used to use four capsules of the MAX EPA, with which he was getting both DHA and EPA but more EPA.

[ohmama]

Lisle,
Because everyone is different it would depend on what your dx is and what you want to accomplish. Not to sound vague but let me suggest a wonderful book that will answer all these questions. THE OMEGA-3 CONNECTION by Dr. Andrew Stoll. He is the director of the Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Boston and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In his book he gives detailed information on what dose would fit your circumstances as well as so much more you need to know about adding this to your treatment plan. Too much for me to say here.

I could give you a general idea of what to give in dose for the age but I think you would be missing a lot by not getting more of a specific treatment information for his condition. Being a psychopharmacologist (a psychiatrist specializing in medical treatment) Dr. Stoll fills in the blanks on what to do and why. It is all backed up with up to date (2001) research.

[lisle]

Hi, OhMama
I read Stoll's book before I embarked on this, but his experiments are somewhat outdated now because they have been replicated with one gram of EPA with success with bipolar. I was told this by the psychiatrist at Pfeiffer and I looked up the study--about a year ago.
Stoll is somewhat committed to his own product and that involves a lot of EPA, which I fear would make my son either manic or have gastrointestinal symptoms. On top of this he already gets some from the cod liver oils.
Stoll used something like 7-9 grams of EPA .
We are working on cholesterol so we need EPA. We are also trying to stabilize mood.
His diagnosis is adhd and anxiety.
lisle

[ohmama]

Lisle,
You should be using an oil that has no or little cholesterol. The presence and concentration should be listed on the label. If not call the manufacturer as this is important. If they are not cooperative don't even go near the product. They do tend to contain added cholesterol among other fats you won't want.

I am not in favor of using cod liver oil as the source of the omega-3 because this contains toxic amounts of vitamin A at higher dosages taken on a daily basis. We are using several grams per day so find the molecular distillation and pharmaceutical quality to be most important in making a selection. In all the studies done with this oil it is this quality that was used. Depending on your selection of omega 3 oil it is not uncommon to end up with 30% omega 3 and find the remaining 70% of the fish oil in these low concentration preparations is mainly omega 9 fatty acids some omega 6 and cholesterol with other lipids. It is very vague and sometimes just says on the label "other fatty acids". The rules don't make them list what "other fatty acids" really include.

The EPA has been found to be the active mood agent of the fish oil and has anti-inflammatory actions as an added bonus for the heart. There have been reported cases of hypomania and mania, particularly with flaxseed oil (ALA). It is unclear if these reactions were due to the flaxseed oil or were part of that person's pattern of mood cycling. But I am also not in favor of flaxseed oil. This is related to treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. That is what I am most familiar with.

As for the DHA, my research agrees with what you say that this is most needed for younger children. At 12 years of age a higher EPA requirement would seem reasonable. I have not read of another study showing lower amounts of EPA than is suggested by Dr. Stoll in his research would be just as effective but this is good news. I'm sure it would require a pure product concentration to accomplish the effects you are after by using a smaller dose.

The antioxidants (vitamin E & C) are important to include with this as you no doubt already know. I think because everyone is different it will take some experimenting with the ratio of DHA/EPA to get the best results with your boy. My boys exhibit better behavior if they have a higher than average DHA (they are 10 yrs old and 75 lbs) for their age. I would say to use a higher EPA than you are right now but don't drop the DHA too low either. If it were me using it for a 12 year old because of anxiety and adhd I would use 1,000 mg (1 gram) EPA and at least 500 mg DHA or more. The good news is that you don't have to be exact and can play with this till you find the best results. That may be using more DHA. I have never read of a danger with this and find it very safe to use in high doses. Be sure to let your doctor know what you want to do. Is he/she working with you on this?

I found Dr. Stolls book to be very informative in combination with Dr. Stordy's research in "THE LCP SOLUTION". I am not using either of the oils that are in these books though. Also helpful in putting it all together is Jean Carpers book "YOUR MIRACLE BRAIN". The Dr. from the Amen Clinic has advised me on dosages for our treatment and much to my surprise before I told him what I found out he recommended the same dose I had come up with along with the same amount of antioxidants.

I don't know what else you are giving him, high magnesium I hope? As well as all the other necessary vitamins. What about amino acids? Are you familiar with Dr. Billie Sahley's research on this? I've often enjoyed reading your informative posts on these matters and I know you know what you are doing.

[catatonic]

My understanding is that research results show you want to keep your DHA at a minimum of 480mg daily, and combined DHA/EPA at a minimum of 650mg daily. These results are fairly widely recognized and have been adopted as recommendations by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They are, however, minimum recommendations and will not necessarily be successful in dealing with ADHD symptoms.

My experience with my 9-year-old son has been that he MUST have higher levels of EPA in order to reap the behavioral benefits of Omega-3 supplementation. Formulations like DHA-250, which provide 500mg DHA and 200mg EPA when taken twice daily simply don't work well for him. He does much better in terms of remaining calm and being able to concentrate when he consumes at least 1 1/2 times as much EPA as DHA, so the supplement we now use gives him 500mg DHA and 1,000mg EPA daily. The MaxEPA by Now was a very good supplement for my boy. The only reason we switched from it was because it is apparently not pharmaceutical grade and I worried about potential contaminants with long-term use.

My personal recommendation would be to provide a great deal more EPA. Four of the Max EPA was the dose that proved ideal for us. But, of course, ever child with ADHD has different nutritional needs and you may have to experiment (again!!!). That's the long way of saying that I am in complete agreement with OhMama's advice!