Adding further weight to the theory that fish may bebrain food, new research found that people with diets rich infish have a significantly lower risk of dememtia and Alzheimer's disease.
The key may be docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid that appears to affect dementia risk and be important for the proper functioning of the central nervous system.
"If you have a high level of DHA, a fatty acid froun in fish, it reduced your risk of dementia by about half," si study lead researcher Dr. Ernist J.Schaefer, seior scientist and director of the Lipid Mtabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Resarch Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.
It is known that omega-3 fatty acids protect the heart and the cirulatory system. "Just as fish is good for your heart, it's probably good for your brain as well," Schaefer said.
Fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are high in DHA.
THE STUDY
In the study, Schaefer and his collegues collected data on DHA levels and dementia in 899 men and women who were part of the Framingham Heart Study. Over nine years of followup, 99 people developed dementia, including 71 with Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers found that people with the highest blood levels of DHA had a 47 percent lower risk of developing dementia and a 39% lower risk of developng Alzheime's, compared with those with lower DHA levels.
People with the highest blood levels of DHA said they ate an average of two to three servings of fish a week. People with lower DHA levels ate substantially less fish, the researchers reported.
REACTION
Schaefer thinks the same benefit can be realized by taking fish-oil supplements. "Everything that we know suggests that supplemets would be as effective as eating fish," he said. "Since low fish intake appears to be a risk factor for eveloping dementia, either eat more fish or use one or two fish oil capsules a day."
However,Schaefer added that a randomized clinical trial is stll neededo see if DHA really protects that brain from dementia.
Martha Clare Morris, and epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said "This is the first study to link blood levles of DHA to protection against Alzheimer's -- in the brain and also improves memory.
"There is a lot of animal and biochemical evidence to support what tis new study shows," Morris said.
But, she said, she's not sure if there is enough data to suggest the value of fish oil supplements. "It looks like the protective benefits from omega-3 fatty acids are at a very low level. There is very little evidence that you get better protection from higher intake," she said. "Whether fish oil supplements are protective is yet to be seen."
Personally, we prefer to take our BiOmega (fish oil) suppments twice daily as recommended because fish high in DHA are also high in mecury and other contamanents. Also with the current cost of fish, eating 3 servings per week would cost more than $19.95 every 4 weeks. Thus BiOmega is saving us money!
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Item # Description Whol. Save 10% Autoship
101 Essentials (Chelated Mineral 122 tablets, Mega Antioxident 122 tablets) "w/ Olivol(r), Olive fruit extract" $44.39 $39.95
104 Body Rox (Teen Essentials, 84 tablets) $19.94 $17.95
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120 Acitve Calcium (112 tablets) $19.94 $17.95
122 BiOmega (56 celcaps) $22.17 $19.95
Like I mentioned before, you can get what the Essentials contain from your diet, but you will need to eat pounds of fresh produce every day and it will end up costing you much more than the USANA Health Sciences Essentials cost. By the way, if you think that you can get all the calcium you need from milk, think again. The calcium in milk is great for cows, but is useless to humans!
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Genieve & Eric