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The food choices we make may be one of the underlying determinants of whether we abuse alcohol, or get in trouble with the law.

The above statement may seem rather far fetched, but the research is slowly mounting that indicates nutritional deficiencies play a role in how the brain works (or doesn't).

Most of the industrialized world has an overabundance of food, but a huge percentage of people are undernourished despite often over-consuming calories. Why is that??

As I have discussed in several previous posts, our diet has radically changed in the last 100 years, and even though we are eating lots of calories, the nutrient composition of our diet has been altered, resulting in a dramatic INCREASE in consumption of sugar and flour, as well omega 6 fatty acids from vegetable oils and grain-fed animals, and a dramatic DECREASE in the consumption of omega 3 fatty acids from fish and grass-fed animals.

We used to consume a ratio of 1 to 4 omega 3 to omega 6, and today the ratio is closer to 1 to 20.  (Feeding grain to animals that are meant to eat grass alters the fatty acid composition of their meat, lowering its omega 3 content.) Most people now are very deficient in omega 3 fatty acids, and this is a problem with big consequences.

Joseph Hibbeln, a researcher for the NIH, believes that due to the industrial and fast-food diet many of us are currently eating, we are suffering from diseases of deficiency, and that this diet is actually restructuring the architecture of our brains, leaving us with low serotonin and dopamine levels, resulting in depression, anger, impulsive and violent behaviour. 

He goes as far as suggesting that perhaps many in our prisons are there because they are currently nutrient deficient, or were when they were very young while the vital structures of their brains were being formed. 

If the cause of crime is at least partially due to nutritional deficiencies while in the womb or as a child, one can ask whether or not our whole system of justice is flawed.  Can someone really be responsible for a crime if their brain is not working properly due to nutritional deficiencies, particularly the nutritional deficiencies of the criminal's parents?? It is also worth noting that many of those that populate our prisons grew up very poor, and simply may not have had access to good quality food.

Joseph Hibbeln backs up his views by looking at some studies, one done in Britain in at the Aylesbury jail, where they gave one group of prisoners multivitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, and another group a placebo, and noticed that violent aggression in the supplement group decreased by 37% and didn't in the placebo group, and when the study ended and the supplements were stopped, aggression went back up again.

Another study was done by the NIH near Washington, where they studied the effects of omega 3 fatty acids on brain function, and noticed a 30% decrease in anger and hostility in those taking the supplements. 

Hibbeln noted that year to year, there was a strong positive correlation between rise in omega 6 consumption levels and the rise in murder rates in the 38 countries he studied. Low omega 6 consumption, low murder rates and vice versa.  It should be noted that this is only a correlation and does not indicate a cause.

If we were to slice open a brain, the first thing we would notice is that it is made of mostly fat. The fat we eat gets incorporated into the cells of our brain.

If the brain needs omega 3 fatty acids to function well, but too little is forthcoming in the diet, the brain makes do with what it is given, and usually substitutes omega 6 fatty acids, which are also long, fluid molecules. This is something like filling a vehicle with diesel when the pump runs out of gasoline. Both fuels are perfectly good for their own uses, but they can't do the job of the other very well.

When omega 3s are replaced with omega 6s in the brain, the neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin can't attach to the cell membranes properly, affectively stopping serotonin and dopamine from doing their job. 

We know that low serotonin levels are linked to depression, impulsive and violent behaviour.

Because the only source of omega 3 fatty acids available to the unborn and nursing baby is from the mother, if she is not constantly replenishing her omega 3s through her diet or through supplementation, she can be drained of this vital nutrient, leading to post-partum depression. 

If the mother is extremely deficient in omega 3s during pregnancy and breastfeeding, eye sight and brain function in the baby may be affected permanently. 

The other critical stage where omega 3s are vital to avoid permanent problems, is through puberty.  Saturated fat is needed also to be able to absorb the omega 3 fatty acids.

Alcohol seems to deplete the brain of omega 3s very quickly. It seems to go the other way too – if one is low in omega 3 fatty acids, one tends to crave alcohol or sugar and flour products.

Interestingly enough, people from cultures that traditionally used to eat a high percentage of seafood and/or wild game all year round (colder climates usually) but no longer do, tend to be more prone to alcoholism.

So, if alcoholism runs in your family, try going back to the traditional diet of your culture, paying particular attention to the ratio of protein, fat and carbs that were eaten in the past.  And be sure any meat consumed is grass-fed, and that the fish are wild. 

One of the first strategies I would try in order to reduce alcohol cravings would be to take at least 4000mg of a good quality fish oil per day. (Speak to your doctor if you are on a blood thinner, as omega 3 fatty acids are excellent blood thinners too.  Perhaps you can switch from the meds to the fish oils.) So if you are having a drink, up your omega 3 supplementation, or have a nice salmon or other fatty fish with your glass of chardonnay.

Food sources of omega 3 fatty acids include fatty fish like salmon, herring, anchovy, cod liver and their oils, flax seeds and its oil, walnuts, chia seeds, and grass-fed meats, free-range poultry and eggs. Fish or krill oil supplements can make it easy to get enough each day – I suggest cod-liver oil through a sunless winter, as it has the added benefit of containing vitamin D.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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In praise of omega 3 fats
Fats, the good, the bad and the ugly
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Vegetable oils – friend or foe?
Depression

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There is a distinct relationship between what happens in the low back and pelvis and what happens in the neck and head. So, if you can’t solve your low back, pelvis or hip pain, try getting your neck and cranium checked.

Last post on the topic of our structure and pain for a while, I promise. I just want to conclude this three-part series about the importance of our structure to our function, by examining how what is happening in the lower body will affect the neck and head, and vice versa, and explaining why it may be important to treat both ends in order to completely resolve a problem.

For survival reasons, our body wants to do everything it can to keep us balanced over our feet and our eyes level to the horizon. This is called the "righting reflex", and as long as our body can do what it needs to do maintain our balance and keep the head and eyes level, the better off we will be. Indulge me and do this little experiment with me, so I can illustrate what I am talking about. Stand up, and throw your hip out to one side. Notice that your ribcage will tilt back the other way, and your neck will tilt to the same side your hip is, to help you keep your weight over your feet and to keep your head on straight. The point of this little exercise is to illustrate the fact that our ribs, neck and head will change position depending upon the position of the pelvis. There is a predictable relationship between what the pelvis is doing and what the cranium (head) is doing, as well as what the lower back is doing and what the neck is doing.

The relationship between each of the spinal vertebrae, as well as the pelvis and cranial bones has been worked out, and is called the Lovett Reactor. I was first exposed to it in my studies at the CHEK Institute, and then again through Neurosomatic Educators, and I believe it is a part of chiropractic and possibly osteopathic teaching as well. For those not in the medical or manual therapy business, skip the next paragraph to the one below, and I will try and explain the significance of this in a more simple manner.

For those in the health biz who are unfamiliar with the Lovett Reactor, in a nutshell, C1 should move in a similar direction to L5, C2 to L4, C3 to L3, whereas C4 will move in the opposite direction to L2, C5 opposite to L1, and so on all the way to T5 which has an opposite movement to T6. The pelvis relates to the cranium as follows: sacrum moves in the opposite direction to the occiput, the ilium moves in opposite direction to the temporal bone on the same side, and the coccyx moves in the opposite direction to the sphenoid bone in the cranium. I would have put in a diagram to explain the relationships, but I can find nothing on the net – sorry. An example of how this works would be an in-flared right ilium should mean that the temporal bone on the right would compensate by out-flaring, in order to assure that the person is meeting the demands of the righting reflex. If this is not happening, the person is NOT meeting the demands of the righting reflex. The more dimensions (flexion, extension, shear, rotation, tilt) in which the person is not meeting the demands of the righting reflex, the more pain and dysfunction the person will suffer from.

According to the Lovett Reactor, each vertebrae in the spine is partnered with another vertebrae. Because of the paired Lovett Reactor relationships, if there is a problem, say, with pain in the low back due to a rotated L4 segment, it is worth correcting the corresponding rotation in C2 in the neck, as the lower problem may not resolve completely until the upper one is also addressed. If the vertebrae are not functioning properly in this relationship, and the head is sitting tilted rather than level on the neck as a result, the eye muscles are put under enormous strain, as they must then try and level the eyes within the
eye sockets so the person can see straight. As you can imagine, this can be the cause of a lot of headaches, not to mention vision problems! The bones of the pelvis have a partner relationship with certain bones in the skull too, and because of this, the position of the pelvis can have a big impact on the position of the bones in the skull, potentially impacting brain function as we discussed last week, and it can go the other way, where the position of the bones in the skull will impact the position of the bones in the pelvis.

I personally find the idea of mobilizing the cranium in order to improve the position the pelvis rather fascinating. And since so many back problems are related to a poor position of the pelvis, it seems prudent to not only correct pelvic position through massage, stretching and corrective exercise, but to also look at the position of the temporal bones and occiput, and mobilize as necessary.

I think that many of us have fallen hard on our tailbones at one time or another in our lives, and the consequences might potentially be quite serious. Due to the Lovett Reactor relationship, if the tailbone (coccyx) is severely bent under because of such an injury, the result may well be that the sphenoid bone in the head is stuck in extension (tilted back), which could impact the other cranial and facial bones resulting in any number of problems and pain in the head. Very few health practitioners would think of looking at the position of the coccyx as part of the solution for sinus, vision, headaches, and nerve problems in the head, I would bet!

My point in all this is that when trying to address pain and dysfunction I believe it is vital to look at the body in its entirety, as the part that hurts is frequently the victim of a cause that is far away. It is possible that a cause of a rotator cuff problem in a baseball pitcher may be a big toe that won't bend, resulting in an inability to rotate adequately at the hips and ribs, forcing too much of the movement to come from the shoulder. Fix the toe, fix the shoulder. Looking at the shoulder in isolation would be futile. Whether the cranium needs to be looked at to help a hip problem, or the top vertebrae needs to be mobilized to address a digestive problem, we need to consider the big picture. Understanding the relationships between the various parts of our structure and how they work together can go a long way to finding solutions to stubborn pain and dysfunction.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

Related tips
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Pop Quiz – do the bones of the skull in an adult move on a regular basis, or are they fused? What do you think?

Grab a nearby adult and put your fingers in their ears, pushing up and back against the boney bit, and notice if the bones are level, and if not, which side is low (make sure the head is straight first!) Or put your fingers just under the cheekbones on either side of the nose and notice if they are level.

Then lie your adult down on their back, and measure again. Do you get the same results? Did anything switch around, so the side that was high while standing is low while lying down? It won't take many people before you notice that the bones are shifting. Doing that experiment proved to me that the bones of our cranium are not the least bit fused.

I found it astonishing how much the bones in the skull can move, just from standing to lying down, let alone what may happen when one hits one's head in a car crash or when one's face becomes a punching bag.

If you have seen MRI brain scans, you may have noticed that even if the report notes that nothing is wrong – no brain tumour etc. – that the brain may not look symmetrical. This scan is actually pretty good. I had previously linked to one that was very assymmetrical, but that link no longer works.

I think these asymmetries should be considered and noted, because the dura mater, the tough outer coating of the spinal cord ascends into the skull and becomes the tentorium cerebelli membrane, and then merges with falx cerebri membrane which separates both halves of the brain.

Both membranes attach the brain to the various cranial bones. So if the cranial bones are not in their optimal alignment, the result will be a distortion in the brain due to a pulling of the membranes.

Does it not make sense that a distortion in the shape of the brain may at the least bring on headaches, and may possibly affect its function?

It is not just the outer bones of the cranium that can have an impact. There are many bones that make up our sinuses, which can be easily compromised by bones of the nose and face being out of position. The position of the bone that our upper teeth sit in (maxilla), the lower jaw bone (mandible), and the temporal bone can all have a huge impact on the ability of the jaw to function correctly (TMJ problems).

Because of this, orthodontists need to be very careful when tightening braces not to tighten them to the point that the temporal bones move, as the bite will be altered. (As parents you can check the temporal bones by using the fingers in the ears technique described above. Check before the appointment, and before you leave the orthodontist's office so the braces can be loosened if necessary.)

Seven different bones form the socket of the eye. Many bones have grooves or holes through which nerves and blood vessels feed, and tilts or rotations in the bones may put mechanical stress on those structures.

Of all the bones in the skull, a good position of the sphenoid bone is probably the most important as almost all other cranial bones join with it, impacting the position of the other bones as well. It is a butterfly-shaped bone that goes through the skull at the level of the temples.

The pituitary gland sits in the center of the sphenoid bone, and produces growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, and oxytocin to name just a few, and the pituitary gland sends messages to other endocrine glands to produce hormones too.
So it is possible that poor bone position can affect hormone production as well.

The good news is that if the bones of the head are stuck in a crooked position creating compression through the brain, possible migraine headaches and even brain function problems, it is possible to release the bones without surgery, decompress the areas that compressed, and straighten out the cranium.

Once again, our structure needs to be optimized in order to optimize our function and reduce pain. So if you are in the Vancouver area, come see me and I'll re-arrange your face! 😉

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

Related tips
"It's all in your head – I mean neck!"
Posture, leg-length discrepancies, musculoskeletal pain and organ function
Walking, sacroiliac joint dysfunction and hip pain
Pain and stabilizer vs. mover muscles
Shoulder-blade position and neck, arm and upper back pain

To subscribe go to www.wellnesstips.ca