Dr Barry Sears

Treatment of Neurological Disorders Using High-Dose

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Disclosures• I am a consultant to Enerzona in

Europe

• I own a medical foods company (Zone Labs) in the United States

• I am the trustee of a medical research foundation that supports clinical studies

Underlying Cause of Chronic Illness

• Increased Inflammation

What is Inflammation?

• Ancient Greeks– Internal Fire

• Ancient Romans–Heat–Pain–Swelling–Redness

Events That Turn On Inflammatory Responses

• Microbial invasion

• Injuries

• Diet

Two Types of Inflammation

• “Hot” Pain–Organ or joint damage

• “Cold” Pain–Cellular inflammation

Measuring Cellular Inflammation

• High sensitivity C-reactive protein–Non-specific–Highly variable due to infection

• AA/EPA Ratio–Most precise marker of eicosanoid

precursors at cellular level–Highly reliable

Phases of Inflammation

Initiating Event

Pro-inflammatory Attack ResponseCellular Destruction

Anti-Inflammatory Resolution ResponseCellular Healing

Long-Chain Omega 3 Fatty Acid-Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)

Long-Chain Omega 6 Fatty Acid-Arachidonic Acid (AA)

COOH

COOH

The Primary Eicosanoid Players

• Pro-inflammatory–Prostaglandins – Leukotrienes

• Anti-inflammatory–Resolvins

Typical AA/EPA Ratios

1.5Japanese

19Americans

25Depression

30ADHD

40Brain Trauma

What Causes Cellular Inflammation?

The Perfect Nutritional Storm• Increased Omega-6 Consumption

• Increased Refined Carbohydrate Consumption

• Decreased Omega-3 Consumption

• Decreased Polyphenol Consumption

Why High-Dose Omega- 3 Fatty Acids for the Brain?

• Slow passage of fatty acids through blood-brain barrier–Brain can’t make AA, DHA, or EPA

• Differential fatty acid turnover–AA half-life: 2.5 years–DHA half-life: 2.5 years–EPA half-life: 2 weeks

How Much Omega-3 Fats Do You Need?

Maintenance of Wellness 2.5 g/day

Treat Obesity, Diabetes, CHD 5 g/day

Treat Chronic Pain 7.5 g/day

Treat Neurological Disease >10 g/day

Types of Fish Oil

• Fish– Potential contamination with PCB and Hg– Higher in AA than fish oil

• Crude fish oil– High contamination

• Health food grade– Still contaminated with PCB’s

• Ultra-refined EPA/DHA Concentrates– “Weapons-grade” fish oil– Can be used in high-dose, long-term

applications

Requirements for Weapons- Grade Fish Oil

Total Long-Chain Omega-3 > 60%

Dioxins <  1 ppt

Mercury < 10 ppb

PCB’s < 5 ppb

Mild Brain Trauma

2005 MVP of Major League Soccer

AA/EPA Ratio Can Change Rapidly In Concussion Patients

• Pre-Treatment (11-23-10)–AA/EPA ratio = 41

• Post-Treatment (1-20-11)–AA/EPA ratio =3

Traumatic Brain Injury

• Leading cause of death and lifelong disability among children and young adults in the United States

• 1.5 million Americans survive a traumatic brain injury, among whom approximately 230,000 are hospitalized

• 50,000 Americans die each year following traumatic brain injury

Medical Miracle or High-Dose Fish Oil?

Results to Date

26 M WV Coal miner CO Coma Recovered

40 M TX Firefighter CO Coma Recovered

12 M NY Baseball player Commotio cordis

ComaCardiac arrest

Recovered

40 M KY Firefighter CO Coma Recovered

29 M WV Logger CHI Coma Recovered

43 F NY Childbirth Anoxia Coma Recovered

55 F FL Stroke Ischemia Coma Recovered

Other Neurological Conditions Treated By

High-Dose Fish Oil

Cerebral Blood Flow in ADHD Can Be Altered By High Dose Fish Oil

Before

After

Effect of High-Dose Fish Oil on ADHD

• Improvement is rapid

• Must be continued to maintain benefits

AA/EPA Ratio

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

aaepa_1 aaepa2 aaepa3

101

102

103

104

106

107

108

109

110

Clinical Global Impression

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

psoi mglob_im fglob

101

102

103

104

106

107

108

109

110

Sorgi et al Nutrition J 6:16 (2007)

ADHD Improvement Is Correlated with AA/EPA Ratio

p =.007

Sorgi et al Nutrition J 6:16 (2007)

Bipolar Depression Can Be Treated with High-Dose Fish Oil

• 9.6 grams of n-3 per day

• 500% greater remission in 3 months

Stoll et al Arch Gen Psychiatry 56: 407 (1999)

AA/EPA

Disability Status

6

2.2

1.5

1.6*

Start 2 Year

Multiple Sclerosis Disability Can Be Reversed

* p < 0.005

Nordvik et al Acta Neurol Scand 102:143 (2000)

Summary• Cellular inflammation is an underlying

cause of neurological disease• It can be rapidly reduced by high-

dose omega-3 fatty acids• AA/EPA ratio allows you fine-tune the

inflammatory response• You can’t rebuild your brain until you

put out the inflammatory fire