Follow Us:
Fish Oil for Healing Brain Injury?
. . . and best ways you can get more in your diet to improve brain function
Fish oil has been creating a lot of buzz in the news lately.
This time, it’s not another rigged scientific study, or ruthless attack by the news media. Instead, it’s one more real-life success story documenting the significant health benefits of fish oil.
This latest “miracle” comes out of Palm Desert, California. Sixteen-year-old Grant Virgin suffered significant injuries following a hit-and-run accident. Including a torn aorta, skull fractures, traumatic brain injury (TBI), compound bone fractures, and spinal fractures. Doctors offered little hope as young Grant fell into a coma.
In fact, they told parents John and JJ Virgin that Grant would likely die from his injuries. While doctors resigned themselves to losing Grant—and advised the Virgins to do the same—John and JJ instead chose to fight for their son’s life.
Eventually Grant’s body would stabilize as he spent the first several weeks on a ventilator and undergoing multiple surgeries. While his doctors took the “wait-and-see approach”, the Virgins scrambled to figure out how to heal their son’s brain injuries.
Parent’s trade doctors’ advice for natural cure
Choosing to take charge of their son’s healing, John and JJ Virgin searched for alternative therapies to use on Grant. Eventually, they discovered fish oil and the therapeutic potential omega-3 fatty acids demonstrated in other cases of TBI.
To start, the Virgins secretly began giving Grant small doses of fish oil in his feeding tube. Eventually—after spending nine weeks in acute care—Grant was transferred into a rehabilitation hospital. There, his parents ramped up his dose to 20 grams per day.
It’s what the Virgin’s believe ultimately—and dramatically—changed the outcome for their son’s recovery.
Just two days after starting mega doses of fish oil—and only nine weeks after his accident—Grant called his mom in the middle of the night and proceeded to have a full conversation with her.
“Unbelievable,” she said. “Unbelievable.” Yes, amazing…considering just two months earlier doctors had given their son a death sentence.
“We had been told he would never be able to recognize anybody, he will never be able to focus his eyes, all that grim stuff,” said John Virgin. “They said the diffuse damage to his brain is so much that he’s never going to be Grant again.”
Today, some 18 months after the accident, Grant continues to make progress. And the Virgins are optimistic he won’t just “get close to where he was before the accident…but better than he was before.”
Role of essential fatty acids
We’ve indicated before why omega-3 fatty acids are critical to human health. They’re essential for building healthy cell membranes, structure, and function—including critical cell-to-cell communication. EFAs also promote the delivery of nutrients into cells, and the removal of metabolic wastes out.
This might explain why high doses of fish oil seem to help individuals like Grant Virgin survive—and eventually recover quickly from—traumatic brain injuries. Interestingly, according to a 2009 study, Harvard University researchers cite a lack of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet as the cause of up to 96,000 premature deaths each year. The sixth biggest killer of Americans!
Multiple studies confirm the many health benefits of omega-3s. EFAs protect heart health, muscle mass, and immune function…improve insulin sensitivity, brain function, and nutrient delivery to cells…and reduce inflammation, triglyceride levels, and cognitive decline.
But when it comes to repairing brain damage, only seven case studies appear in the scientific literature. No surprise to us…all seven resulted in successful outcomes!
Opponents of fish oil are quick to point out conflicting studies showing omega-3s actually harm health. However, you know by now using that same old playbook of insufficient doses, flawed formulas, and poor study design can’t possibly result in better health. In fact, we’ve recently exposed these kinds of claims—sponsored by the drug industry and spread by their accomplices in the media—as simply junk science meant to confuse and frustrate consumers like Grant Virgin who could benefit from using high quality supplements like fish oil.
Best source for omega-3s
There are two major sources of dietary omega-3 fatty acids. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is found in some vegetable oils like flaxseed, and in walnuts, and in smaller amounts in some vegetables like kale and spinach. Fatty fish like salmon and tuna are rich sources of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Yet omega-3 is one of those instances where we highly recommend taking a supplement, instead of getting it from food. Why? Because in people with compromised health, our bodies don’t convert ALA—a short-chain fatty acid—very well to EPA or DHA. So it helps to consume the EPA and DHA directly.
Plus here, we show how commercially available fish—even wild-caught salmon—consistently test positive for toxins like mercury and PCBs. Sadly, that makes it a poor choice for getting the necessary amounts of omega-3s your body requires for good health.
So your best bet is to supplement with fish oil. But as we’ve indicated before, it’s important to choose the right fish oil if you expect to rebuild immunity…protect against infections…strengthen your heart…and improve brain function.
That’s why we strongly recommend our Beyond Health Fish Oil Formula. You’re assured of getting the cleanest, safest, most potent fish oil supplement on the market today. Go ahead…give fish oil a try. If high doses can help Grant Virgin and others heal brain injury, you can imagine the brain benefits you’ll get from daily supplementation.
Have you experienced improved health by supplementing with fish oils? Please tell us about it in the comment section below.