eNews from Monday, June 30, 2008

Omega-3 Fats More Important for Girls Than Boys: New Study

New Scientist -- June 28, 2008 -- Parents of daughters, listen up. Eating enough omega-3 fatty acids is twice as important for boosting the brainpower of girls than it is for boys.

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Several studies have upheld the link between intelligence and higher consumption of omega-3 fats, especially those found in fatty fishes such as salmon. William Lassek at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and Steve Gaulin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, wondered whether this effect might be even stronger in girls because women not only use omega-3 fats to build their brains, they also store them on their hips and thighs in preparation for nurturing the brains of their future babies. "The lower body fat is like a bank into which deposits are made during childhood and only withdrawn during pregnancy and nursing," says Lassek.

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the US, the pair compared consumption of the omega-3 fatty acids with cognitive test scores in 4000 children aged 6 to 16.

They found that kids scored better the more omega-3 fatty acids they ate. They also found that omega-3s accounted for twice as much of the improvement in girls as boys, says Lassek, who presented his results at a meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society in Kyoto, Japan, this month. Their statistical models also suggest that good fats have more of a beneficial effect in girls than blood lead levels have a negative effect.

Girls' test scores, but not boys', also plummeted with increasing consumption of omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fats are predominantly supplied in the diet from sunflower, corn and soy oils. The typical US diet supplies about 10 times as much omega-6 as omega-3. "Brain and body can process limited amounts of fatty acids, and the omega-6 can push out the omega-3," says Joseph Hibbeln at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

"What is particularly striking and important in their data is that they also find a negative relationship for greater intakes of omega-6 fatty acids," he says.

Author: Nora Schultz

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Omega-3 Fats More Important for Girls Than Boys: New Study

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