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Omega-3 levels may play a role in improving cognitive resilience in middle-aged people
An exploratory study suggests that people who eat more foods containing omega-3 fatty acids in midlife may have better thinking skills and even better brain structure than people who eat few foods containing omega-3 fatty acids. The study is published in the October 5, 2022 online edition of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon, sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna. They are also found in fatty acid-fortified foods or dietary supplements. Improving our diet is one way to boost our brain health. When people with a few...
Omega-3 levels may play a role in improving cognitive resilience in middle-aged people
An exploratory study suggests that people who eat more foods containing omega-3 fatty acids in midlife may have better thinking skills and even better brain structure than people who eat few foods containing omega-3 fatty acids. The study is published in the October 5, 2022 online edition of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon, Sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna. They are also found in fatty acid-fortified foods or dietary supplements.
Improving our diet is one way to boost our brain health. If people could improve their cognitive resilience and potentially prevent dementia with a few simple changes to their diet, it could have a big impact on public health. Even better, our study suggests that even moderate consumption of omega-3 may be enough to maintain brain function. This is consistent with current American Heart Association dietary guidelines and consuming at least two servings of fish per week to improve cardiovascular health.
Claudia L. Satizabal, PhD, study author, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
2,183 people with an average age of 46 years who did not suffer from dementia or stroke took part in the cross-sectional study. Their omega-3 fatty acid content was measured. They took tests of their thinking skills. They had scans done to measure brain volume.
People in the low group had an average of 3.4% of their total fatty acids as omega-3 fatty acids, compared to an average of 5.2% for people in the high group. An optimal value is 8% or higher. Values between 4% and 8% are considered moderate. Values below 4% are considered low.
The researchers considered factors that could influence the results. They also used a mathematical process to normalize the data. They observed that people who consumed higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids not only had higher average scores on a test of abstract reasoning, but also had larger average volumes in the hippocampus area of their brain, which plays an important role in memory.
“These results need to be confirmed with additional research, but it is exciting that omega-3 levels may play a role in improving cognitive resilience, even in middle-aged people,” Satizabal said.
She noted that the study was a snapshot in time and participants were not followed over time. Therefore, the results do not prove that consuming omega-3 fatty acids preserves brain function. It just shows an association.
Although the study included only a small portion of people of different races/ethnicities, Satizabal said the majority of the sample was non-Hispanic white adults, which may limit the ability to generalize the results to other groups.
The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Source:
Reference:
Satizabal, CL, et al. (2022) Association between red blood cell omega-3 fatty acids and MRI markers and cognitive function in midlife: The Framingham Heart Study. Neurology. doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000201296.
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