February 2014

Welcome to our latest edition of our monthly newsletter!

The team at A-M B-Well hope that you are enjoying a year of health and happiness and encourage you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for special offers and valuable information!

In this issue of our newsletter we look at an amazing article involving fish oil and its dramatic healing effects when dealing with brain trauma!

Fish Oil Cited in Dramatic Healing After Severe Brain Trauma

February 09, 2014 / By Dr. Mercola

Omega-3 rich fish oil is one of the most well-researched nutrients on the market. Its wide ranging health benefits have been repeatedly proven, and animal-based omega-3 fats are one of the few supplements I recommend for virtually everyone to improve overall health.

It's particularly critical for your brain health, and as the featured article and my interview with JJ Virgin shows, it may even help heal and restore brain function after a traumatic brain injury. Recent research also suggests that fish oil can help slow down age-related brain atrophy.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some 1.7 million traumatic brain injuries occur in the US each year, making the prospect of utilizing fish oil very exciting. It's inexpensive, and although it does act as a blood thinner, which could be contraindicated in some instances, its side effects are virtually all beneficial.

According to leading omega-3 expert Dr. Barry Sears, there are currently seven cases in the medical literature describing the use of fish oil for traumatic brain injury—each one of them successfully so.

16-Year-Old Defies Death Following Fish Oil Treatment

The featured CNN article describes the tragedy and triumph of 16-year-old Grant Virgin, who suffered a wide range of injuries in a hit-and-run car accident. His injuries included skull fractures, spinal fractures, and bleeding throughout his brain. Doctors didn't give his parents any hope for recovery. Instead of shrugging their shoulders in acceptance, his parents were indignant.

"It's like, how dare you not fight for my son's life?' said JJ Virgin.

'It really took us... getting very aggressive and assertive to save our son's life, because they weren't going to do it... They told us to let him go,'" his mother told CNN.1

From that moment forward -- time and time again -- they would go against doctor's orders. That included trying unconventional, untested therapies -- anything that might help Grant. One in particular involved giving him high doses of omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oil). Fish oil is what the Virgin family believes ultimately -- dramatically -- altered his life course, and healed his brain.

The Virgin family learned about fish oil from friends who had caught a previous CNN report about fish oil being used in cases of severe brain trauma. Grant's mother, JJ Virgin, tracked down Dr. Barry Sears who, in 2006, consulted on the case of Randal McCloy—a miner who had suffered brain injuries from carbon monoxide.

In that case, which was the first time fish oil entered the medical literature as a treatment for brain trauma, it was McCloy's neurosurgeon who called on Dr. Sears' expertise in a last-ditch effort to rescue his patient. As reported in the featured article:

"'There is no known solution, there's no known drug, there's nothing that we have really to offer these sorts of patients,' said Bailes, co-director of NorthShore Neurological Institute in Evanston, Illinois, during a previous interview...

The theory behind fish oil as a therapeutic intervention for traumatic brain injury is at once simple and complex. Simply stated, the brain's cell wall is, in part, composed of omega-3 fatty acids.

'If you have a brick wall and it gets damaged, wouldn't you want to use bricks to repair it?' said Dr. Michael Lewis, founder of the Brain Health Education and Research Institute. 'By supplementing using (omega-3 fatty acids) in substantial doses, you provide the foundation for the brain to repair itself.'"

Fish Oil—A Potent Anti-Inflammatory

Omega-3 fats, which help fight inflammation throughout your body, also helps quell inflammation in your brain. After a traumatic injury, the brain inflammation that occurs can continue for long periods of time unless, as Dr. Sears states, "there's a second response that turns it off."

Fish oil, it appears, can help do just that, when given in sufficiently high doses. After spending nine weeks in acute care, Grant was transferred into a rehabilitation hospital where he began receiving 20 grams of fish oil a day. (His parents had reportedly been sneaking fish oil to him while he was still in emergency care, but not at that high a dosage). Two days later, his mother received a late-night phone call from her son.

"Forty-eight hours after receiving high-dose fish oil, Grant Virgin asked a nurse for a cell phone to call his mother, and proceeded to have a conversation with her. 'Unbelievable,' she said. 'Unbelievable.' Unbelievable, especially considering that was only two months after Grant Virgin's parents had been told to 'let him go,'" CNN writes.

Today, 16 months after the accident, Grant continues to make progress. According to the Virgin family, none of this would be possible had they blindly accepted what conventional medicine had to offer—which was basically nothing... except waiting for their son to die. Grant's recovery has prompted Drs. Sears and Bailes to study omega-3's benefits for brain trauma more intently. According to CNN, Dr. Bailes receives research funding from fish oil manufacturers. As reported by CNN:

"They are on the cusp of beginning a broader study to find out if omega-3 can be a useful intervention for some people after traumatic brain injury. The Virgin family, based on their own dramatic experience, is sure that omega-3 will do for others what it did for their son. 'OK, what if it didn't do anything?' said John Virgin. 'It certainly couldn't hurt, but what if you have this kind of result?'"

A 2011 study published in the journal Military Medicine2 also showed the neuroprotective effects of fish oil, concluding that: "Given the safety profile, availability, and affordability of n-3 FA [omega-3 fatty acids], Generally Recognized As Safe amounts of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (up to 3,000 mg daily) should be considered for the athlete and soldier, not only for its general health benefits, but particularly also for those at risk or high exposure to brain impacts." Grant was given two to five grams of fish oil per day, averaging about 3 grams (3,000 mg), making this research particularly applicable.

CLICK HERE AND GET YOUR PGFO TODAY!!!