Page 399 - Total War on PTSD

course of a football season of serum neuro-filament light polypeptide protein, particularly in starting players. As they reported, “These data suggest that a season of collegiate American football is associated with elevations in serum NFL (neuro-filament light), which is indicative of axonal injury, as a result of head impacts.”
The results of the DHA were equally impressive. After reviewing past concussion rates and rates of concussions on teams of similar size, investigators expected, on average, fourteen concussions that year. Yet, only six concussions were documented in the 2014 season. We don't know if it was because of the Omega-3s or not, but a 50% drop in a single year is compelling even though the numbers are too small to really put a lot of scientific credence into it. More importantly, they found that DHA attenuated or decreased the amount of serum neuro-filament light. Basically, supplementation with DHA reduced this important biomarker associated with head injury.
This study, published in the journal, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, makes clear that while American football athletes are exposed to sub-concussive impacts over the course of a season resulting in elevations of biomarkers of axonal injury, taking Omega-3s is imperative to help protect the brain from impacts. DHA clearly decreased the amount of this head trauma biomarker in these athletes.
Unfortunately, a huge setback occurred in 2017 when the NCAA came out and placed fish oil on their “Not Permissible” supplement list. When that happened, I started getting calls from university athletic trainers from around the country who were frustrated by this action. They were used to providing fish oil supplements every day to their athletes of all sports, they were using my Omega Protocol after an injury, and now were told they could not do either. I guess the backlash from the universities to the NCAA was influential. In January 2019, the NCAA changed its bylaws making Omega-3
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