Now that the New Year has arrived, it’s a good idea to put our minds to those New Year’s resolutions that we committed to over Christmas. Talking of minds, whether you’re a teenager doing exams or your school days are long past, one of our resolutions should be to take better care of our brains. Dr Paula Gaynor, Nutritionist and founder of SOMEGA explains how.
Our brain is one of the body’s most complex organs and indeed one of its most crucial organs. Throughout our lifespan, the brain helps to make sense of the world, oversee daily operations and life itself.
Brain health refers to our ability to concentrate, remember, learn, play and maintain a clear and active mind. We now recognise that a healthy brain is needed to live a fuller and longer life and that maintaining brain health can also help to optimize levels of independence; while poorer cognitive function is associated with increased risk of depression, social withdrawal, and dependence.
As we age, poor brain health can also manifest in several different ways such as cognitive impairment, including learning and remembering, or even dementia. Globally, as population’s age, there are more than 9.9 million new cases of dementia each year or one new case every 3.2 seconds.
You can improve your brain health through a healthy lifestyle and also ensuring you’re getting enough Omega-3s (EPA & DHA) from fish, like those found in our SOMEGA supplement.
DHA, is an essential building block of the brain’s cell membranes, making up 30 per cent of our grey matter membranes – like a house without bricks or walls, the brain could not exist without omega-3 fatty acids
Omega3s (EPA & DHA) are important for brain health throughout our lifespan – they play an important role in the developing baby’s brain. In fact, several studies have linked pregnant women’s fish intake or fish oil use with higher scores for their children on tests of intelligence and brain function. And in older adults, lower levels of DHA in the blood are associated with smaller brain size, a sign of accelerated brain aging. Studies have also has found that blood levels of Omega-3s (EPA & DHA) were significantly reduced amongst individuals with dementia.
Another function of omega-3 is to reduce inflammation in our bodies, including our brains. While normal aging is associated with heightened and prolonged inflammation, certain conditions and lifestyle factors can also raise inflammation levels including obesity, diabetes, smoking, poor diet, stress, lack of physical exercise, and inadequate sleep. Accumulating evidence has implicated heightened brain inflammation as an important factor that may contribute to and exacerbate cognitive decline and increased risk of dementia among older adults.
So, if there’s one New Year’s resolution that you should follow through on, it’s achieving better brain health by increasing your intake of Omega’s (EPA & DHA), like those found in SOMEGA.
VAT on Health
Supplements – SOMEGA Commitment
Another thing to get our heads around in 2020 – As of January 1, our government has introduced 13.5 per cent VAT on all food supplements. This is an extremely disappointing move from a government that aims to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone living in Ireland with its Healthy Ireland initiative. At SOMEGA, our customer always comes first and we consistently strive to provide a high quality product at a fair price. For this reason, to support our health- and budget-conscious customers, we have decided to absorb the VAT increase ourselves. This means that in health stores, pharmacies and online at www.gosomega.com, the price of SOMEGA will remain the same as before and not increase by 13.5 per cent. To our customers, stockists and followers, thank you so much for your continued support and wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.
