As school life resumes, I’m never sure who needs more of a pick-me-up: the child adjusting to early starts or the parent recovering from the long holidays.

I think both can benefit from upping the amount of Essential Fatty Acids over the autumn months. They are called ‘essential’ as they are essential for normal health and growth in every cell. Our bodies can’t produce them, so we have to ingest them. Modern diets are often low in this oil and instead are full of saturated fats, like animal fats (butter & lard), or hydrogenated fats.

So why are they so essential? For children it’s been shown to combat hyper-activity and to help brain development; it’s also good for inflammatory conditions like eczema & psoriasis. For grown-ups, it helps with PMS, heart conditions and the latest studies from California suggest it may have an impact on ageing.

The best way to make sure you get enough omega 3 is to eat two portions of oily fish a week, (sardines, mackerel, anchovies) or to pour a tablespoon of seed oil over your food before you eat – I find flaxseed oil has a delicious nutty taste, but don’t cook with it (heat destroys any benefits).

If you prefer to take a supplement of omega 3 as fish oil, make sure you are getting a good quality one. It’s all down to the conversion and distillation process, which makes the fatty acids manageable and useable. Some oils can ‘repeat’ on you although this may be just a
personal thing. Some oils go through an extra refining process to remove unpleasant tastes, or some may just rancid. Nordic Naturals and Eskimo are good quality, as too is the Eye Q range, with its citrus and vanilla flavours tasting good, which is half the battle won.