I have also heard that omega-3 intake affects (improves, which is to say,
reduces) symptoms of schizophreia.  There are a couple of studies on this, but
I don't have the references off-hand -- will do search and ... you know what,
I need to start keeping a bookmark database on this paleo stuff...  Anyway, if
anyone knows where I can find the studies about omega 3 and schizophrenia,
please e-mail me the bookmark, or better yet, share it with this group.
 Thanks.


Mary Thorpe wrote:

> I've heard the decline in schizophrenia attributed to a lack of wheat in
> the diet during that period.  Gluten peptides are thought to produce
> neurological disorders (depression, schizophrenia, etc.)(I know they do for
> me!).  For a good discussion of this general topic see the article by Ron
> Hoggan and James Braly:
> http://depression.about.com/health/depression/library/weekly/aa071299.htm?te
> rms=hoggan&PM=113_300_T (the address changes weekly, so search the authors
> if you can't find it directly at that address).
>
> >"The most clearly documented example of what happens when a society returns
> >to a traditional diet occurred by chance in Norway during World war II.
> >The incidence of schizophrenia, cancer and heart disease had doubled in
> >that country after 1900, when Norwegians abandoned their traditional diet
> >in favor of processed foods. Yet in the early 1940s, the incidence of these
> >illnesses declined a startling 40 percent. That decline coincided exactly
> >with the years of hardship during the German Occupation of Norway.
> >   What happened to the Norwegian diet during those terrible years?
> >Because of the occupation, processed and refined foods were scarce, forcing
> >the Norwegians 5to revert to eating traditional foods. Beans, whole grains,
> >and fish--once staples in the diet--again became daily fare.  Scientists
> >who studied the phenomenon, which I call the Norwegian notch, found that
> >40-percent decrease in schizophrenia, heart disease, and cancer coincided
> >with a 50-percent increase in consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids. Fiber
> >consumption probably also increased, and we know margarine consumption fell
> >to very low levels.
> >    After the war, the Norwegians reverted to eating commercial and
> >processed foods. Rates of heart disease and schizophrenia soon climbed back
> >to prewar levels."
> >
> >**I would think that the reporting of health conditions during that time
> >was not the best, but it is still very interesting.
> >
> >Bob
>
> Mary Thorpe
> Teaching Support Specialist
> Nutritional Science
> MVR 3M07, 353
> 255-8769