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Brain FoodLooking More Like Fish Is, Indeed, Brain Food One fish meal a week may reduce Alzheimer risk Could
something as simple as eating fish just once a week help stave off
Alzheimer disease? A new study suggests yes. Researchers at the Rush
Institute for Healthy Aging in Chicago compared the fish-eating patterns
of more than 800 men and women ages 65 to 94 and then checked to see
whether they developed Alzheimer disease several years later. The
result: Those who ate at least one fish meal a week were significantly
less likely to end up with Alzheimer disease than those who never - or
hardly ever - ate fish. This
is not the first line of research into whether fish can protect people
from Alzheimer disease. Two earlier studies that looked for a link
between people's fish-eating habits and their risk for Alzheimer's found
the same thing. And in research on mice and rats, animals fed diets
enriched with omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish had superior
learning acquisition and memory performance over animals not fed those
acids. A
mechanism of action is far from being nailed down; Alzheimer disease is
a complex condition with many factors that playa role in its
development. But it is known that making fish a regular part of the diet
helps reduce the risk for heart disease and diabetes-both risk factors
for Alzheimer's. Then,
too, one of the omega-3 fatty acids in fish, commonly known as DHA, is
among the most important fatty acids in components of brain cell gray
matter called phospholipids. The more fish you eat, the more of these
omega-3s will end up in those phospholipids, That's key because the
specific part of the brain cells in which phospholipids are found are
the membranes, which control the entrance and exit of material to and
from each cell. Putting more DHA into them by changing the diet to
include more fish therefore has an influence on cell-to-cell
communication, affecting nerve conduction, neurotransmitter release, and
other things that allow brain cells to send messages to each other. One
fish that's relatively high in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA-and much lower
than many other types of fish in mercury, which has some people nervous
about increasing their fish consumption is salmon. If it's canned, it's
very easy to prepare. Just add some chopped onion and a squirt of lemon
juice. |
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January 2004 ENERGY TIMES |