I was listening to Dr. Mehmet Oz's radio show recently and caught an
interview with Dr. Daphne Miller. She recently published a book called
"The Jungle Effect" regarding the healthiest diets in the world ("cold
spots" or areas where chronic Western diseases are rare). One of the
countries she spoke about was Iceland. She found that there were much
lower rates of depression than might be expected in a country with so
little sunshine and they were generally a very happy people. Why was
SAD (seasonal affective disorder) not really an issue there? It was
discovered that Icelanders eat tremendous amounts of fish that are high
in DHA and EPA oils. They also tend to eat smaller,
low-on-the-predator-ladder fish. But this did not explain why
Icelanders who live inland and who primarily eat sheep and lamb are also
not overly affected by depression. It was found that the mountain
grasses are very high in ALA (alpha linolenic acid) which is a precursor
to DHA.
I find this so interesting as a recent TV show I watched on Icelandic
horses showed them just covered by clouds of biting flies. I wonder if
the high levels of ALA they consume in the grass helps them ward off
allergies/reactions to the bites? Or if supplementation could help the
Icelandic horses s affected by summer eczema/sweet itch?
Trish
<http://www.drdaphne.com/thejungleeffect/>
