Another use for Fish oil

[Guest guest]

This study just came out today -

Fish oil may

preserve thinking ability in elderly

Tue Apr 24, 2007

10:30am ET

High

blood levels of omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids, which are found in fish

oil, may help preserve thinking ability in the elderly, according to the

findings of two studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The results were particularly striking among subjects with

high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels.

Accumulating

evidence suggests that diets that include omega-3 fatty acids, specifically, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic

acid (DHA), protect against the development of dementia and Alzheimer's

disease, according to a Dutch research team. However,

the effect of EPA+DHA consumption on thinking ability, or " cognitive

function, " has received less scrutiny.

So Dr. Boukje

van Gelder, from the National Institute for Public

Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, and

associates evaluated data for 210 healthy men in the " Zutphen

Study, " who were 79 to 89 years old in 1990 and had normal mental capacity. Their diets were assessed in 1990, and cognitive function

was tested in 1990 and again in 1995. Subjects

who ate fish had a slower decline in cognitive function than subjects who did

not eat fish. The investigators conclude

that " fish consumption and EPA+DHA intake are not significantly related to

cognitive impairment but are significantly related to cognitive decline. " Van Gelder's team

recommends the daily consumption of roughly 400 mg of EPA and DHA, found in

fish, meat, eggs, leeks, and cereal products.

In the

second study, which involved 2,251 older individuals, Dr. May A. Beydoun, at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill, and colleagues showed that high blood levels of EPA and DHA

are associated with less decline in verbal ability. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. E.

Connor and Dr. Sonja L. Connor suggest that EPA has anti-clotting and

anti-inflammatory properties that work together to help preserve cognitive

function.

SOURCE:

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2007.

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