Sardines For Brain Health

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HOW MY STUDENTS LEARNED TO LIKE SARDINES AND WHY THAT CLASSIC FOOD IMPROVED THEIR LIVES

My small class of eleven second- and third-grade students had never been offered this snack by a teacher before, and their eyes were big with doubt. The two classroom aides were also surprised, wait­ing to see where Ms. Ayers was going with this strange idea that kids would eat sardines. This was back in 2005, when I was asked to teach a special ed class for a year because the school district couldn’t find a teacher with a special education credential.

Halfway through the school year, after reading Dr. Artemis Simopoulos’ book, The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete,¹ I asked the principal for permission to see if a simple addition to the daily schedule would make a difference for my students. She gave the green light, and so there we were that spring day, talking about those little fish that come in an unusual flat can with a pull tab.

I told the expectant group that I would eat one sardine then and there—scales, guts, fins and all—but first I would explain a little bit about this unusual food. (It helped that the Fear Factor TV show was on air back then.) I set the sardine on a plate so they could all see it and told them that the next day, anyone who wanted a sardine could have one. (I could see them thinking, “No way!”)

WHY SARDINES?

In this sardine orientation for my students, I started with the fact that if a rat weighed as much as me, its brain would be one quarter the size of mine. Ditto if an elephant weighed the same as me. That’s because we humans have very large brains for our weight, I explained.

Our huge brains need more omega-3 oils than most mammals get in their diets. I showed them that the can contains 3 fish, and the label says that one fish provides 170 mg of omega-3s.

I also told them that thousands of years ago, before we bought food in stores, human families ate plants that we could pick or dig up, and caught animals to eat. Wild grazers like buffalo have four-chambered stomachs that convert grasses into omega-3 and other healthy fats, which meant that the Plains Indians could have healthy brains from eating the buffalo. Coastal communities and those living on rivers caught an even richer source of these brain builders: fish. Cold-water fish are especially high in omega-3s, and our ancient ancestors were good at making nets or using spears and hooks to catch fish.

Next, I described why modern people don’t get sufficient omega-3 oils as people did twenty thousand years ago, or even one hundred years ago. It’s because now we consume a lot of omega-6s from “vegetable oils.” Scientists have found that these omega-6 oils— [polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)]— cancel the essential omega-3s.

Continuing, I told my class that nowadays, people eat less fish, and most cattle don’t graze on hillsides. Instead, cattle eat grain from troughs in muddy feed lots; therefore, most hamburgers or hot dogs contain more of the not-so-healthy omega-6s and less of the good-for-us omega-3s. That means that our brains don’t work as fast—we can’t remember things as well, we get nervous more often and it’s harder to be patient—all of which make it harder for kids to learn to read.

In fact, I said, it’s not just our brains that need omega-3s. Every cell in the body needs them to make the “skin” around each cell (the cell membrane). When cells are forced to substitute PUFA oils for the omega-3s, they can’t function properly. Because our bod­ies can’t make important long-chain omega-3 oils—called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)—from other oils, we must eat them or we will be deficient and probably have health problems.

I asked my eleven students to raise their hands if anyone in their family had diabetes, and four or five hands went up. Remembering that some of them had a grandparent living with them, I next asked, “How about cancer?” Not as many hands, but they knew this was a serious problem. Again, some hands went up when I asked, “Has anyone in your family had a heart attack or a stroke?”

Finally, I asked about ailments that young people also get, such as food allergies and asthma. I knew that some of my students had to deal with those personally or had siblings who did. I told them that scientists have found that omega-3 oils can help prevent or heal these problems. Because most oils used in modern food don’t contain omega-3 oils, I explained, that’s why sardines are especially good for us, including helping us feel happier and more energetic, and also helping us have a good memory.

To keep things simple, I told them that I try to eat a sardine every day. That wasn’t quite accurate because, for variety, I also consume wild-caught salmon and supplement with cod liver oil. Furthermore, I avoid PUFAs, and, therefore, my daily requirement for omega-3s—needed to balance omega-6s—is much lower. At any rate—and somewhat to my surprise—my students followed along, maybe because they hadn’t heard this unusual health information before.

Finally, for the grand finale, I ate the sardine! After witnessing my amazing survival, one child told the class that her grandpa liked sardines on saltines. Another reported that his auntie enjoyed salmon or tuna fish sandwiches.

OUR SARDINE SPRING

The next morning, quite a few children waved their Sardine Permis­sion Slip as they came in the door. Those brave souls would get to try a bite, and once they knew what it tasted like, they would have a chance to eat a whole sardine the next day if they wanted. And thus began our Sardine Spring.

Motivated to boost their health, all eleven valiantly sampled the first tiny bite in their paper cup. Alas, two simply couldn’t tolerate the fishy taste. Nevertheless, from then on, at morning recess, usually nine of the eleven students in our class readily took a Dixie cup that contained a sardine. I now regret that I didn’t think to bring salsa or lemon juice to school, because it probably would have made it possible for the two kids with sensitive taste buds to join in.

Sacramento Bee reporter Laurel Rosenhall heard about this peculiar snack and came to visit our classroom. She published an article titled “In Good Taste: Sardines help students learn more, says a teacher who serves them as class treats.” (I reproduce her article in the sidebar. Unfortunately, it is no longer available at the newspaper’s website.)

While it is difficult to quantify the changes in my students after they added the daily sardine, my subjective opinion is that they were more in­teractive with each other and they enjoyed the assignments more. I would give a writing topic and hand out paper with a rectangle for a picture in the top half and blank lines in the bottom half, and they would get right to work with the picture and the sentences. I felt that their compositions in the last third of the school year, when we had the sardine snacks, had more energy than could have been predicted from the preceding months.

Who knows what I would have observed had I been able to provide sardines for a whole year.

MORE ABOUT OMEGA-3s

DHA and EPA are long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.² They are essential to human health and concentrate in the brain and the retina of the eye. Foods rich in omega-3s include oily fish (such as salmon, sardines and mackerel). Small fish such as sardines and salmon, are preferable to larger fish like tuna, because heavy metals that are always in the oceans will be less biologically magnified in smaller fish. Ter­restrial sources of long-chain omega-3s include pastured meat and butter, and free-range chickens, or their egg yolks, when they have access to flax seeds or bugs.

Talking this information over with my fellow teachers in the staff lounge, I said that research by doctors like Artemis Simopoulos had proved that oils like Crisco and margarine are bad for our health because they are partially hydrogenated and are skewing the omega-6 to omega-3 balance. A health system blog weigh­ing the pros and cons of butter versus margarine summarizes the matter as follows:

“Margarine. . . contains high levels of omega-6 fatty acids. . . that may cause prob­lems in high quantities when they are not balanced with omega 3 fatty acids. While the ideal balance of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids ranges from 1:1 to 4:1, Ameri­cans today consume a ratio that is closer to 14:1 to 20:1. . . . Several studies suggest a link between our increasing consumption of omega-6 fatty acids and the steep rise in rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression and other diseases in the U.S.”³

COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT NOT INTERESTED

Now I am retired and living happily in a rural valley amid many organic and regenerative farms. With more time available, I have been presenting data to the county’s public health department, pointing out that both the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) School Lunch Program should include foods containing the essential fatty acids DHA and EPA. Unfor­tunately, they aren’t the least bit interested.

An hour away from our valley is the University of California campus in Davis, which, like most research campuses, relies on corporate funding for most of its research endeavors. It’s ironic that the Davis farmers market is popular among all the PhDs who study the wonders of GMOs and glyphosate (which, they assert, are totally safe for humans and livestock). Needless to say, there’s no call for sardines at the UC Davis dorm cafeterias or student-run cafes, even though a lot of those high-performance students probably were helped as children by parental encouragement to take their fish liver oil chewables or eat egg yolks.

An important question for the FDA is why there are no minimum daily requirements set for the scarce fatty acids. The problem is that such a guideline would cut into the profits of a certain very powerful lobby, the processed food industry. They supply cafeterias that serve free lunch as a USDA program, and now schools also provide free breakfast. Speaking as both a teacher and taxpayer, it seems fair to me to of­fer free meals to children in low-income areas because it’s darn hard to learn on an empty stomach. However, the current system is miss­ing a huge opportunity. Tax dollars are paying for these meals—why not spend a little more to provide toxin-free, nutrient-dense meals?!

The Moms Across America organization has been doing a great job testing school meals for pesticides and herbicides.⁴ Their lab reports also reveal that the food for kids who get two of their three daily meals in the school cafete­ria is far too low in the nutrients necessary for healthy growth.

It’s widely recognized that the FDA and USDA are “captured agencies” with a revolving door to huge corporate food processors. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, the USDA educated parents on the benefits of cod liver oil for their children. Both agencies need overhauls so that they can once again do their job properly.

In the 1970s, Senator George McGovern chaired the Senate Select Committee on Nutri­tion and Human Needs; under the influence of seed oil processors, the committee’s final report deemed vegetable oils to be healthier than butter and lard.⁵ It’s taken decades to wake up from that nightmare, and the WIC program still of­fers only low-fat or fat-free milk for preschool children over twenty-four months of age!

A DAILY SARDINE SNACK

Reforming national programs is nearly impossible, but an easy start would be for states to skip the red tape and federal rules by simply starting their own parallel-but-separate pro­grams to fill the huge DHA/EPA gap. A Daily Sardine Snack would prove itself within months, with fewer absences, better test scores and fewer visits to the principal’s office.

Since even that step could take years to achieve, however, what’s possible today? Charter schools could live up to their claimed innova­tive spirit by offering students sardines. And even the most conventional schools have Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) that raise funds for art and science programs, so why not raise money for a sardine program?

At the classroom level, lone teachers everywhere could get around bureaucratic inertia by starting such programs on their own, after enlisting administrator buy-in. With every lesson, teachers already aim to engage children’s natural curiosity (the formal term for this is “anticipatory set”); by learning about humanity’s long reliance on omega-3-rich foods and by having a conversation about their families’ health issues, students could be genuinely motivated to try this high-nutrition food. With either some lemon juice or salsa, wrapped in a lettuce leaf and using a napkin in the other hand to catch the drips, it would be easy to make this a daily or weekly routine.

In 1966, when Pope Paul VI relaxed the Church’s rule about eating fish on Fridays, fish consumption dropped, and Friday eventually became Pizza Day in school cafeterias. We need to repair that loss.

It’s true that almost 80 percent of the world’s fisheries are gone or are so depleted that recovery may take decades.⁶ However, while sardines are crucial to the oceanic food chain, they are also strong in numbers and lowest in biomagnified toxins. School sardine programs would nurture future generations of caring and sensible adults who could fix this eco-problem and many others as well.

Whereas isolated food supplements can’t be offered in schools, foods like salmon and sardines can. Students would probably demonstrate similar improvements in hand-eye coordination as were found in the famous 2004 Oxford-Durham Study.⁷ There were noticeable improve­ments after supplementing students with the omega-3s EPA and DHA for a mere three months, as the “before” and “after” handwriting samples in Figure 1 show.⁸ Moreover, it wasn’t only this child’s handwriting that improved. His school work got better, and he was happier⁹ and made friends more easily.

 

Avoiding toxins is also part of a holistic ap­proach. Figure 2 shows drawings made by four-and-a-half- and five-year-olds in northwestern Mexico. Children in the foothills (left side of both plates), who had scant exposure to pesticide drift, drew detailed images of people; by age five, most kids will include details like fingers and belly buttons.¹⁰ However, valley children (right side of the two plates in Figure 2), who were exposed to pesticide drift from the farms all around them, could only manage scribbles or, at best, rudimentary rag doll figures that look tossed aside. An organic diet is key to removing toxins, and heavy metals may require chelation.

 

NUTRITION MATTERS

Nowadays, school shootings seem to be almost a monthly occurrence. Thank good­ness, the Weston A. Price Foundation has made important nutrition research widely available to show how we can regain a saner culture where depression and violent sociopathy are once again infrequent. One particular Wise Traditions article from April 2013 says it all; in “Violent Behavior: A Solution in Plain Sight,” Sylvia Onusic, PhD, writes: “Deficiency in DHA strongly correlates with violent behavior.”¹¹

Sardines provide a ready and affordable remedy. A can of Trader Joe’s Sardines in Spring Water states, “670 mg Omega-3 fatty acids per serving.” Twenty years ago, my small sardine project helped individual children, but my attempts to show school administrators the potential of truly nutritious food got nowhere. Today, with more awareness of the research on omega-3s, a lot more is possible. What if inter­ested WAPF members could talk things over in an email group? If interested, let me know at: lauren.yolocounty@gmail.com.

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SIDEBARS

WHAT’S IN A SARDINE?

Sardines are a “nutritional powerhouse” that contain many important nutrients.¹² In addition to DHA and EPA omega-3s, sardines are a source of meaningful amounts of vitamin D,¹³ vitamin B12, calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc and more.¹⁴ According to a 2023 article published in Frontiers in Nutrition, it is the “matrix of nutrients” contained in sardines (and not just the omega-3s) that confer cardiovascular benefits.¹⁵ Describing sardines as a “functional food,” those authors suggest that “it is reasonable to recommend at least 1-2 servings of sardines per week” to gain the heart benefits.

Researchers have also noted the benefits of the calcium and vitamin D in sardines for bone health and prevention of osteoporosis.¹⁶

IN GOOD TASTE: SARDINES HELP STUDENTS LEARN MORE, SAYS TEACHER WHO SERVES THEM AS CLASS TREATS

By Laurel Rosenhall, Sacramento Bee Staff Writer (April 16, 2005) [Italicized corrections by Lauren Ayers (LA)]

A funny smell hangs in the air in Lauren Ayers’ classroom at Caroline Wenzel Elementary School as students pile in from morning recess. With the kind of glee usually reserved for shouts of “ice cream!” the children skip through the door and cry: “Sardines!”

All but 2 students head for the plastic cups containing a sardine apiece which Ayers has placed on a desk. They dig in with delight. The unusual morning snack at this school in Greenhaven is the cornerstone of Ayers’ mission to improve childhood nutrition in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

Ayers believes her students behave better and learn more when they eat a steady diet of sardines, which are high in DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids, considered essential to human health. Studies have shown omega-3 fatty acids boost brain function, lower high blood pressure and reduce depression.

Nutritionists say many Americans eat too many of the unhealthy fats found in processed foods and too few of the nutritious fats found in some fish and plants. The imbalance, they say, is one factor contributing to high rates of obesity among American children. Almost one-third of California students were overweight in 2004, according to the state Department of Education. The prevalence of childhood obesity makes the current generation of American youngsters the first in 200 years that could have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, have proposed eliminating soda and junk food from vending machines on the state’s school campuses. [LA: Since then, sodas can no longer be purchased during school hours.] Ayers wants to take the idea further. Schools shouldn’t focus only on taking away unhealthy foods in machines, she says, but also on adding nutritious items to cafeteria meals.

And reducing obesity isn’t the only reason she thinks students should eat better. A good diet helps children pay attention, according to academic studies as well as Ayers’ anecdotal evidence. That’s why she spends about $35 of her own money each month giving students daily snacks of sardines.

“To me it’s worth it because they’re so much better behaved and I’m less crazy as a teacher,” she said. Ayers’ students are second- and third-graders in special education because of disabilities related to communication. But Ayers said she would give the nutritious snacks to any class.

How did she get them to eat the sardines? By offering them up on a dare. Ayers introduced the snack by saying only the bravest students would dare give sardines a try. The tactic apparently worked. On a recent school day, many children lined up for seconds after finishing their first cup of fish.

Experts applaud her efforts.

“Omega-3 fatty acids are essential, good for you and kids don’t get enough,” said John Burgess, a professor of food and nutrition at Purdue University in Indiana. Burgess researched consumption of omega-3 supplements among children deficient in the fatty acid who also had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. He found improved attention and uplifted moods among those who consumed more omega-3 fatty acids, though the supplement had little effect on hyperactivity. [LA: Health depends on many factors, not just one “prescription.” For instance, many hyperactive children calm down when all artificial colors, flavorings and preservatives are removed from their diet.]

Better attention is obvious to Raynette White-Walls, whose son Cedric Stone adores eating sardines in Ayers’ class. The 9-year-old boy now asks his mother to buy sardines at the grocery store, she said. “I’ve noticed tremendous change,” White-Walls said of her son’s learning. Previously, she said, if she asked Cedric a question, he frequently responded by repeating the question. Now, she said, “I ask him, ’What did you read? Can you explain it to me?’ Without a doubt, he comprehends it.”

When she goes grocery shopping now, White-Walls said she carries a list of foods Ayers recommends and makes sure to buy Cedric lots of seafood and fresh veggies. Ayers has developed a website loaded with information about her nutritional philosophy [LA: now GoodSchoolFood.weebly.com].

And she hopes to expand her school nutrition program next year. She is searching for grant money that would al­low five campuses to overhaul their school lunches by removing foods high in trans fat and replacing them with meals rich in omega-3 fatty acids and fresh produce. [LA: The grant idea never panned out.] The question then will be whether students outside Ayers’ classroom will also learn to love fish. If her own experience is any indication, the odds are good.

As Ayers scurried around her room picking up empty plastic cups at the end of snack time, she offered students the dregs from a can of sardines. “I have a few extras here if anyone would like thirds,” Ayers said. Instantly and eagerly, 3 little hands shot into the air.

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REFERENCES

1. Simopoulos AP, Robinson J. The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete. HarperPerennial, 1999.
2. Hjalmarsdottir F. The 3 most important types of omega-3 fatty acids. Healthline, updated May 27, 2019.
3. Providence Nutrition Team. Ask an expert: Butter vs. margarine—which is better for you? Providence, n.d. https://blog.providence.org/regional-blog-news/ask-an-expert-butter-vs-margarine-which-is-better-for-you
4. School Lunch Testing Program. Moms Across America, n.d. https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/national_school_lunch_testing_program
5. Oppenheimer GM, Benrubi ID. McGovern’s Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs versus the meat industry on the diet-heart question (1976-1977). Am J Public Health. 2014 Jan;104(1):59-69.
6. https://oceaneos.org/state-of-our-oceans/overfishing/
7. Richardson AJ, Montgomery P. The Oxford-Durham study: a randomized, controlled trial of dietary supplementation with fatty acids in children with developmental coordination disorder. Pediatrics. 2005;115(5):1360-66.
8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/intelligenceandmemory/omega_three.shtml
9. https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/new-evidence-on-omega-3s-for-behavioral-problems-in-children/
10. Guillette EA, Meza MM, Aquilar MG, et al. An anthropological approach to the evalua­tion of preschool children exposed to pesticides in Mexico. Environ Health Perspect. 1998 Jun;106(6):347-353.
11. Onusic S. Violent behavior: a solution in plain sight. Wise Traditions. Spring 2013;14(1):19-35.
12. Shaw E. Are canned sardines healthy? Here’s what dietitions say. Eating Well, updated Oct. 25, 2024.
13. O’Toole P. Evaluating the Vitamin D Content in Sardines and Mackerel. BU School of Medi­cine, 2013. https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/16279
14. Morgan KK. Are there health benefits to eating sardines? WebMD, Jun. 13, 2024.
15. Santos HO, May TL, Bueno AA. Eating more sardines instead of fish oil supplementation: beyond omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, a matrix of nutrients with cardiovascular benefits. Front Nutr. 2023 Apr 14;10:1107475.
16. Gennari C. Calcium and vitamin D nutrition and bone disease of the elderly. Public Health Nutr. 2001 Apr;4(2B):547-559.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2024

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