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Something Fishy About Alzheimer’s Prevention

New study supports earlier finding that eating fish helps prevent Alzheimer’s

July 22, 2003 – A new study says that if senior citizens – 65 and older – eat fish once a week they will have a 60 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease than those who seldom eat fish. A similar study last year in France showed people 68 and over who ate fish once a week had a much greater chance of avoiding all types of dementia.

The new study, published yesterday in the Archives of Neurology and funded by the National Institutes of Health, involved 815 Chicago residents 65 and older. Follow-up tests nearly four years later found that 131 participants had developed Alzheimer's.

The researchers found an association between eating fish and a reduced risk of Alzheimer's even after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity and risk factors like heart disease. The meals included tuna sandwiches, fish sticks and shellfish; the amounts eaten were not specified.

Fish is rich in an omega-3 fatty acid that is believed to be important for brain development, Morris said. Studies have shown that animals fed the fatty acids had better learning abilities and memory, she said.

She said some participants in the latest study also saw a decreased risk of Alzheimer's from eating omega-3 fatty acids found in vegetables and nuts.

The same researchers found in an earlier study that people who have diets heavy in saturated fats run double the risk of getting Alzheimer's.

"This is very promising, but it's very early and really we need to have a lot more studies," said lead researcher Dr. Martha Clare Morris of Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center to the Associated Press..

This study adds to the evidence that diet may affect a person's chances of developing the mind-robbing disease that affects 4 million Americans.

An earlier study of elderly people who eat fish or seafood at least once a week found they are at lower risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. This study in France was published in the British Medical Journal, Oct. 24, 2002.

Using data from a large aging study, a team of French researchers set out to test whether there was a relation between consumption of fish (rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids) or meat (rich in saturated fatty acids) and risk of dementia.

The study involved 1,674 people aged 68 and over without dementia and living at home in southwestern France. Their frequency of consumption of meat and fish or seafood was recorded as daily, at least once a week (but not every day), from time to time (but not every week), or never. Participants were followed up two, five, and seven years afterwards.

Participants who ate fish or seafood at least once a week had a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed as having dementia in the seven subsequent years. When education was taken into account, the strength of the association was slightly reduced, suggesting that this "protective" effect was partly explained by higher education of regular consumers, say the authors. They found no significant association between meat consumption and risk of dementia.

As well as providing vascular protection, the fatty acids contained in fish oils could reduce inflammation in the brain and may have a specific role in brain development and regeneration of nerve cells, suggest the authors.

Healthy dietary habits acquired in infancy could be associated with achievement of higher education. Highly educated people might also adhere more closely to dietary recommendations on fish consumption, they conclude.