EFA Tips

You may wonder:

	How do I get fish oil into my child?!
	What if my child is allergic to fish?
	Can I give fish oil to my baby?

Coromega and other pure Omega 3 formula's like it and ProEFA and other Omega 3 and Omega 6 formula's like it are not the same things even though they could all be good quality fish supplements. Coromega, Cod Liver Oil and DHA Jr., etc are only Omega 3 from fish oil (DHA and EPA) supplements vs ProEFA or Efalex which are Omega 3 from fish oil (DHA and EPA) and Omega 6 from Borage Seed Oil or Primrose Oil, etc. (GLA) supplements. If you get the oil from the liver-such as in cod liver oil-then it will naturally contain Vitamin A. Some doctors and parents like Omega formulas with the Vitamin A-and some don't-so keep this in mind.

As far as taste, it depends -some like one and not the others. Some hate them all-and parents give them to their kids anyway. The main reason that most people use the dietary supplement called ProEFA is that most children have much more dramatic results on ProEFA in much less doses than the rest -but please check with your child's doctor and as long as the supplements are from good quality companies try a few of them and see for yourself. I mean, if we were just going to go by taste-I doubt most of us would be using fish oil at all!

For those who want or need an EFA supplement without fish oil (if the child is allergic to fish for example) you could try Flax seed oil. However- please read what Dr. Katz says about Flax seed oil:

"Flax seed oil or freshly ground flax seeds are an excellent source of the essential omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA or LNA) which is the quintessential parent member of the omega-3 family of essential fatty acids (EFAs). The body transforms it into EPA and the EPA into DHA.
This transformation is very inefficient (the yield is about 10%) and is further inhibited by over consumption of omega-6 fatty acids from most vegetable oils or certain disease states. Therefore, it is advisable to independently consume also ready made EPA and DHA from good quality fish of from high quality fish oil supplements. Some recommended intakes are listed on the Introductory lecture on EFAs that I gave at the First Conference on Therapy of Verbal Apraxia, July 23-24, 2001, Morristown, NJ. (http://www.apraxia.cc)

The Cherab Foundation's positive research results on potential improvement in speech following EFA supplementation are based on the use of ProEFA (Complete Omega) and that contains also another essential fatty acid, GLA which is an omega-6 fatty acid. The latter
appears to be beneficial to children with apraxia. It is not present in flax seed/flaxseed oil.

None of these materials present with any known side effects or known toxicity in an otherwise healthy person. Nevertheless, we advise every user of supplements to use them under medical
supervision. We don't know your child and we cannot provide you with medical advice.

Sincerely,

Robert Katz, Ph.D.
Cherab Foundation Director of Research"

My 5 year old apraxic son Tanner is a trooper and takes the ProEFA from a spoon every day. I hold his nose for him, but he doesn't mind the taste. We started the holding the nose thing when Tanner used to take the efalex, which is very fishy smelling and tasting, and it's
kind of our ritual now.

I rip only half of the protective waxy seal off the top of the ProEFA bottle, and put a pin in the part that is left. When it's time to give Tanner his ProEFA, I open the top of the bottle, pull out the pin, put a hole in the capsule, put back the pin, and squeeze the oil onto a spoon.

Here are some other things we used to have to do when Tanner took the efalex which he hated. (Efalex is fishier tasting and smelling)

1. We would put just put a drop of fish oil in the middle of the bread for a sandwich and cover with peanut butter, a drop in the middle of a pancake, a drop in the middle of a bowl of spaghetti, etc. if we put too much fish oil, Tanner would not eat the food.

2. Glenn and Tanner and Dakota would each hold a cup filled with a dash of juice. Tanner's juice was always "spiked" with efalex. Tanner is very competitive and would love a good race. "Ready set Go!" and Glenn would hold the cup to his mouth without drinking and then stop and have all three compare who drank the most. Of course, Tanner was winning! They would keep doing this until Tanner won (which meant he finished the efalex fish oil spiked juice)

3. I used to bribe Tanner with gummy bears that he could have after. Didn't work as good as the first two. But for a long time we did a combination of number one and number three.

4. Tanner's older brother started taking the fish oil, and Tanner wants to do what Dakota does.

5. As Tanner got older, at about four, we started calling the fish oil "yucky magic fish oil which helps you talk" and we really made a big deal about how yucky it was, and would "show off" to people how Tanner could take this yucky stuff and eat it right off the spoon. It worked for Tanner!

It was lots of work, but well worth the results. If your child will not take ProEFA, maybe buy some efalex and try that. Compared to efalex, a sock would probably be a treat!

Again, some EFAs are liked by some children-hated by others. With ProEFA - many kids from the Cherab group will just eat it from a spoon, or chew the capsule since borage oil is naturally sweet. I can say that ProEFA does not smell like some of the other EFAs we've
used. After a year and a half of Tanner hiding behind the couch when it was time to take other fish oils, this was amazing even without all the great breakthroughs he's had!

The improvements when on the right supplement and the regressions on the wrong one are pretty quick-within weeks in most cases-so again you can see for yourself-like most of us did already!
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