Fish Really is Brain Food
Patients with higher plasma levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a fatty acid found in fish, had a significant 47% reduction in the risk of all-cause dementia and a 39% reduced risk of Alzheimer's, researchers at Tufts in Boston reported.
The researchers found a link between fish intake, an important source of DHA, and a reduction in dementia, Ernst Schaefer, M.D., and colleagues, reported in the November issue of Archives of Neurology.
After adjustment for age, sex, apolipoprotein E ?4 allele, plasma homocysteine concentration, and education level, those in the upper quartile of baseline plasma DHA levels, compared with those in the lower three quartiles, had a relative risk of 0.53 for developing all-cause dementia (95% confidence interval, 0.29-0.97; P=0.04). The relative risk of developing Alzheimer disease was 0.61 (CI, 0.31-1.18; P=0.14), they reported.
According to Columbia University researchers, a Mediterranean-style diet -- spare on red meat and heavy on fruits, vegetables, and olive oil -- may help to fend off Alzheimer's.
The effect was strongest in people who followed a Mediterranean-type diet most religiously, reported Nikolaos Scarmeas, in the December issue of Archives of Neurology.
