Dr. Mercola Antarctic Kids Krill Oil

There's a new krill in town and it's called Kids Krill Oil -- specially formulated for children.

Made with all the same high quality ingredients of New and Improved Krill for adults, Kid's Krill Oil just comes in a smaller dose per caplique -- for your little one's smaller system. Krill oil is an extract from Antarctic krill that is rich in cell membrane building blocks: highly unsaturated phospholipids co-functionalized with Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA & DHA).

Just two antioxidant-packed Kids Krill Oil capliques at the beginning of your child's day provides him or her with:

• A daily boost in overall brain development and nervous system function
• Extra support for increased concentration, memory, and learning
• Added protection for cell membranes
• Extra support to keep the immune system strong
• An extra supportive boost for a healthy cardiac system

Get your kids started on the right road to great health with Kid's Krill Oil.

WARNING: If you are allergic to shellfish, have a blood coagulation disorder, or are taking anticoagulants such as Warfarin (Coumadin), do not use Krill Oil. Also, Krill Oil is very stable and will last up to 2 years. However, do not store it in the freezer or refrigerator; extended exposure to temperatures higher than 100 degrees or lower than 50 degrees diminish effectiveness of the phosopholipid ingredients.

Ingredients: krill oil, fish gelatin (capsule) and silica. Contains shellfish (krill).

Suggested Use: 2 gelatin capsules daily with the first meal.

Note: If you are allergic to shellfish, have a blood coagulaiton condition, or are taking anticoagulants such as Wayfarin (Coumadin), do not use.

60 extra-small fish gelatin capsules per bottle (30 servings). Made in the USA.

What are krill?

Krill are small shrimp or prawn-like creatures that feed the world's most mammoth animals -- the great whales. Toothless great whales gulp down huge quantities of krill to provide the energy they need to fuel their massive bulk. A blue whale eats up to 8,000 pounds of krill each day during feeding season. These highly intelligent great whales aren't the only animals that depend on krill for their nutritional needs. So do seals, penguins, sea birds, squid and fish.

The hardy krill harvested from harsh Antarctic waters -- the ones that comprise Dr. Mercola Krill Oil -- are so important they are considered a "keystone species", an organism upon which many Antarctic predators depend. These semi-translucent crustaceans congregate in dense masses or swarms that can turn the ocean's surface pink or red.

Together with plankton, krill make up the largest biomass on earth, one of the most easily renewable food resources available, an excellent nutritional source from an environmental perspective.

Krill aren't a new source of nutrition. They've been harvested as a food source for both humans and domesticated animals since the 1800s. Possibly even earlier in Japan where they're considered a delicacy.

Krill Oil Health Benefits for Kids

What is Choline and How Does It Promote Your Child's Intelligence?

Choline is a phospholipid -- a compound that contains both fats and water-soluble components. Phospholipids are essential components of your cell membranes. Choline is found in you and your child's brain and plays a role in the production of acetylcholine -- a neurotransmitter required for memory, other brain functions, and muscle control. Neurotransmitters carry signals from nerve cells to other cells.

Produced in the liver and found in significant quantities in your child's brain, choline is essential to the integrity of all human cell membranes. It also helps support proper cholesterol function and levels in your body -- something to consider especially if your child lacks a diet strong in high-quality and organic meats and vegetables.

Do You Worry About Your Child's IQ?

DHA is a natural component of breast milk. Studies suggest DHA helps infants improve intellectual and visual development. Another top nutrient in Kids' Krill that benefits their health is DHA. Kids' Krill also contains EPA, but most of the neurological benefits of omega-3 oils are derived from the DHA component rather than the EPA component. In fact, DHA is one of the major building blocks of the brain.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid. About half of the brain and eyes are made up of fat, much of which is DHA -- an essential nutrient for optimal brain and eye function. DHA is a natural component of breast milk. Studies suggest that infants fed breast milk score higher on intellectual and visual measurements than those fed baby formulas lacking DHA. Those who were breast-fed, as a group, have higher IQ scores than formula-fed babies. Maternal supplementation with DHA during pregnancy and lactation has also been demonstrated to increase children's IQ.

The first year of life is a crucial year that sets the stage for your child's healthy body and mind. Exposure to DHA-rich breast milk while the brain is rapidly growing assures that your child will develop his full intelligence potential.

Not Just for the First Year of Life

But DHA is critical to optimal brain function throughout life -- not just the first year. You see, most of your brain's dry weight is lipid (fat). Brain activity depends greatly upon the functions provided by its outer, fatty waxy membrane to act as an electrical nerve-conduction cable. Compared to other body tissues, the DHA content of the brain is very high. So it stands to reason that your need for DHA remains high throughout life. DHA -- Critical throughout life, not just the first year.

Some of the many ways DHA helps your child's health?

• Supports strong cognitive function by supporting optimal neuron function
• Promotes ability to concentrate and focus
• Affects the motor control part of the brain, playing a major role in muscle function and coordination
• Supports normal social development
• Promotes appropriate behavior
• Provides increased visual acuity
• Promotes a positive mental health outlook

Muscle control may not at first glance seem too critical, outside of sports. But it's crucial to the process of coordinated writing, as well as essential to sitting still during many learning activities without fidgeting, flailing around, kicking, and more.

Visual acuity also affects your child's ability to learn. Being able to discern between two letters in a word... see what the teacher is writing on the board... and much more are everyday examples of how visual acuity impacts his or her life.

And naturally, every parent wants a life of relative peace, represented by their child's appropriate behavior, normal social development, and positive mental attitude. After all, who wants to live in a battle zone?

What Else Does DHA Do for Your Child?

• Krill promotes focused attention and concentration for optimal learning.
• Maintains healthy inflammatory levels in their brain and throughout their system
• Stimulates neuron growth, and development and repair of synapses. The brain is a vast complex system of nerve cells sending and receiving signals (electrical impulses) across junctions called synapses. The small space between the two cells is where the action occurs.
• One neuron may synapse with as many as 1,000 other neurons. Sophisticated functions like learning and memory require high-quality messaging.
• Promote focused attention, and calmness during stressful situations, by supporting optimal dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that supports motor skill development and focus, and also plays an important role in many complex brain processes.
• Regulates growth via its regulation of cellular communication and function
• Protects the brain's function by supporting optimal glutamate function. Glutamate and GABA are considered the brain's 'workhorse' neurotransmitters. They work together to control the brain's overall level of excitability which controls many body processes.
• Protects all the cells in the body
• Promotes optimal blood lipid health

With all these benefits, it's a 'no-brainer' on your part to be sure your child gets these important nutrients into their system in adequate amounts.

Why EFA Balance is  Critical to Your Health

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) include both omega-3 fats (high in the vital compounds EPA and DHA) and omega-6 fats. EFAs cannot be manufactured in your body but are beneficial to normal health and metabolism. Therefore, EFAs must be obtained through your diet.
Although some omega-6 fats are good for your health, the balance of omega-6s to omega-3s is crucial. Unfortunately, most people consume an overabundance of omega-6 fats.

Your ancestors embraced a diet with a healthy balance of approximately equal omega-6 and omega-3 fats. But the current Western diet is far too high in omega-6 fats. The average omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is now closer to 20:1, and in some cases even 50:1. This can keep you from optimal health. Due to this imbalanced ratio, and because you could likely benefit from more omega-3 fats, Dr. Mercola recommends adding Krill Oil to your health arsenal.

Besides DHA and EPA, this unique marine oil has another "secret weapon". Unlike fish oils, pure krill oil carries omega-3s in the form of phospholipids -- liposomes or little packages that deliver the fatty acids directly to your body's cells.

Scientific evidence to date has shown that the safest and most effective carriers of EPA and DHA are these phospholipids. Unfortunately, standard fish oils (and inferior krill oil brands) lack this phospholipid complex. Instead they contain omega-3 fatty acids in the less-beneficial form of free triglycerides.

Why are phospholipids important? They are the building blocks for your cell membranes, regulating cellular transport by functioning as 'gate-keepers.' In this role, they protect cell membranes from free radical attack.

This unique relationship between the phospholipids and omega-3 fatty acids greatly facilitates the passage of the fatty acid molecules through your intestinal wall. The benefits:

• Makes the omega-3 fats in Dr. Mercola Krill Oil significantly more bioavailable than those in fish oil by allowing EPA and DHA to directly enter your cells.
• Improves your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.

The most predominant phospholipid in pure krill oil is phosphatidyl choline, which is partially composed of choline. Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of choline in brain development, learning and memory. In fact, choline is particularly important for fetal and infant brain development in pregnant and nursing women. Choline is the precursor for the vital neurotransmitter acetylcholine (which sends nerve signals to the brain) and for trimethylglycine, a recognized liver protector.

Dr. Mercola Krill Oil offers clear advantages to fish oil in a number of important ways.

You get all the same multi-system health benefits of omega-3-rich fish oil, including crucial EPA and DHA, plus:

• Your brain is a huge "consumer" of DHA: Antarctic Pure Krill Oil is made from krill with health-promoting DHA and choline, which are absolutely essential not only for adults, but also for normal fetal and infant brain development!
• Much better absorption than fish oil: This means you can take 1/5 the dose -- two small capsules rather than 10 large ones. The phospholipid binding increases the bioavailability of the omega-3s, improves the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio and supports healthy cell membrane functioning.
• Superb Antioxidant Protection: Unique antioxidants -- including astaxanthin and a novel marine flavonoid -- may protect you from damaging free radicals.
• Pollution-Free: Krill are at the bottom of the food chain and collected far from pollution in the pristine seas surrounding Antarctica. So you don't have to worry about unsafe accumulations of mercury, PCBs, heavy metals or other toxins that low-quality fish oil products may contain.
• Ongoing Supply: Krill are a highly renewable source. They are the largest biomass in the ocean and there is simply no risk of causing them to perish from over-harvesting.
• Stability: Antarctic Pure Krill Oil is more stable and more resistant to rancidity than conventional fish oils. This means it will last longer. It will last for TWO years at room temperature. (Please do not refrigerate.)
• No fishy aftertaste, reflux or other side effects: Although fish oil consumption commonly leads to side effects of fishy aftertaste, reflux or belching of fish flavors, this has not occurred with Antarctic Pure Krill Oil. No adverse effects have been noted even at high dosages.
• Renewable Food Source: Krill represent a renewable, sustainable and environmentally positive nutrition source.