Study Ties Fish-Rich Diet
to Lower Dementia Risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fish may indeed be "brain food," if new study findings are any indication.

French researchers found that among the elderly adults they studied, those who regularly ate fish and other seafood at the study's start were less likely than others to develop dementia--including Alzheimer's disease--over the next 7 years.

The findings do not prove that fish has a direct effect on dementia risk, and the study authors point out that the fish eaters' relatively higher education partly explain the connection they found.

However, they also note that the healthful fatty acids in fish could have brain-protective effects.

Dr. Pascale Barberger-Gateau and colleagues at the Universite Victor Segalen Bordeaux report the findings in the October 26th issue of the British Medical Journal.

The researchers followed more than 1,400 adults aged 68 and older for at least 2 years, and up to 7. At the outset, participants reported whether they ate fish and other seafood daily, weekly, less often or never. Their meat-eating habits, as well as their education levels, were also recorded.

Participants who ate fish or seafood at least once a week were found to be 34% less likely than less-frequent fish eaters to develop dementia over 7 years. When the researchers factored in education levels, the fish-dementia association weakened somewhat, however.

"The 'protective' effect of weekly fish or seafood consumption was partly explained by higher education of regular consumers," Barberger-Gateau's team writes.

A number of studies have suggested that people with higher education may be less vulnerable to memory loss and mental impairment as they age because they have what is called a greater "brain reserve."

However, factors that harm cardiovascular health, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, have also been tied to Alzheimer's risk. And one form of dementia called vascular dementia results from an inadequate blood supply to the brain.

The French researchers note that fish fatty acids could be involved in dementia risk by protecting vascular health--or, alternatively, by reducing inflammation in the brain.

Dementia has a number of underlying causes, with Alzheimer's disease being the most common form. Experts believe that age, genetics and lifestyle and environmental factors that are not yet fully clear all contribute to Alzheimer's risk.

SOURCE: British Medical Journal 2002;325:932-933.

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".