Fish oil against Alzheimer's
Omega-3 reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 49%
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
Scientists have presented convincing evidence of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids for the prevention of dementia. They have shown that a diet rich in them reduces the risks of neurodegeneration even with a genetic predisposition. That is, a diet can prevent an incurable disease and save billions of dollars on healthcare, the authors said.
Article by Sala-Vila et al. Red Blood Cell DHA Is Inversely Associated with the Risk of Incident Alzheimer's Disease and All-Cause Dementia: Framingham Offspring Study published in the journal Nutrients.
The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is continuously increasing, and effective options for maintenance therapy of incurable neurodegenerative disease are still lacking. While the main forces are focused on preventive measures and the new work of American scientists provides convincing evidence of the role of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in this process, writes EurekAlert.
Scientists observed the diet of almost 1.5 thousand participants over 65 years of age. Additionally, they analyzed the blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an essential omega—3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, as well as the presence of a genetic predisposition to dementia - a variant of the APOE4 gene.
It turned out that the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the participants with the highest levels of DHA in the blood was 49% lower than in the group with the lowest concentration of DHA. It is estimated that such a level of DHA can add about 5 years of healthy life without this diagnosis.
It is noteworthy that participants with the APOE4 genetic variant may benefit even more from taking omega-3 for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, the authors found. The APOE4 mutation is thought to double a person's susceptibility to dementia.
Most interestingly, the new results almost completely confirmed the conclusions of the previous study, in which the parents of the participants in the current experiment took part. Then a higher level of DHA showed a 47% reduction in the risk of dementia. "Similar results in another generation provide significant confirmation of a direct link between DHA and dementia," concluded the author of the work, William Harris.
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