Don't let your brain dry up
Scientists: fish oil helps slow down the "shrinkage" of the brain in old age
published on the website of the American Academy of Neurology – VM).
"Such a high level of fatty acids can be achieved with the help of diet or dietary supplements. Our results indicate that they noticeably slow down the normal process of neuronal death in the brain, which, in fact, "rejuvenates" it for two years," said James Pottala from the University of South Dakota in Sioux Falls (USA).
Pottala and his colleagues came to this conclusion by studying data from social surveys, dieting, and measuring brain volume in elderly residents of the United States who participated in a large-scale WHIMS study aimed at studying how the ability to remember new information changes in older women.
In total, over a thousand retired women participated in this project, whose average age was 70 years at the time of the start of the study, which lasted eight years. Analyzing the results of WHIMS, the authors of the article found a curious pattern – elderly women whose blood contained many molecules of unsaturated fatty acids suffered significantly less from a decrease in brain mass and volume.
Thus, the brains of women whose omega-3 fatty acid content in their blood exceeded the typical values by two times, had an average brain whose mass was 0.7% greater than that of the rest of the study participants.
At the same time, the mass of the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain, was 2.7% higher. According to the calculations of the authors of the article, both of these facts "rejuvenated" the brain of US residents for about two years.
According to the researchers, the development of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases is usually accompanied by a decrease in brain mass. Therefore, slowing down the process of its "drying out" may prevent the onset of these ailments in old age, scientists conclude.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.01.2014