03.01.05
Nordic Naturals, Inc., Watsonville, CA, has released the results of a successful pilot trial showing the beneficial effects of essential fatty acids (EFAs) on language and learning skills in children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. The study, completed in 2004, was conducted by Louise Patrick, who is a licensed speech and language pathologist, and Ronald Salik, MD, at a pediatric clinic in Arizona. The three-month open-label study provided 18 children, ranging from three to 10 years of age, with daily supplemental EFAs in the form of Omega-3.6.9 Junior, a fish oil-based EFA product from Nordic Naturals. Omega-3.6.9 Junior, also sold as Compete Omega and ProEFA, features a combination of omega 3 EFAs from purified fish oil and omega 6 EFAs from purified borage oil. The children were evaluated for increases in language ability by study investigators on day 0 and day 90 of supplementation; an adult who was familiar with the child also conducted an evaluation at day 45. All of the children displayed significant increases in their language and learning skills after supplementation with Complete Omega. Statistical analysis, which was completed at the University of Arizona, demonstrated that the increase in scores from day 0 to day 90 in each of the eight areas measured had high statistical significance.