Omega-3 fatty acids: the essential nutrient your brain needs more of

 You don't have to be Greek to live a long and healthy life.

But it helps to eat like one.

As far back as the 1940s, experts found the eating habits of people in the Mediterranean seemed to keep them unusually free of heart disease, dementia and other chronic ailments that plague the Western world.

What's different about the Mediterranean diet? For one thing, they eat more fish.

Cold-water fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a nutrient that's important for good health, and particularly beneficial to the brain.

Last fall, a research team from New York and Athens found that eating a Mediterranean diet, including plenty of fish, fruit and vegetables, can reduce aging of the brain by up to five years.

"These results are exciting," Yian Gu, of Columbia University, told The Guardian. "They raise the possibility that people may potentially prevent brain shrinking and the effects of aging on the brain simply by following a healthy diet."

Think of omega-3 as motor oil for your mind. It keeps your brain lubricated, allowing it to operate at peak level. It also improves your mood and reduces your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and depression.

So you can get amazing benefits from this essential nutrient.

But you're probably not.

Here's the problem: our body doesn't make omega-3 fatty acids. We can only get them from the food we eat, and the typical Western diet is woefully deficient in them.

"People eat a lot of fast food, a lot of processed food," says Karen Ensle, a registered dietician and health educator with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension program. "They eat what they like, not always what we would consider a balanced diet. They basically don't eat enough whole grains, they don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, and some of the foods that are really excellent sources of omega-3 are not on their list for weekly menus."

In fact, most Americans only get somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of the omega-3 fatty acids that our brain needs to function at its best.

That statistic sounded an alarm for me.