March 28, 2005

Even our grandmothers told us fish was "brain food"--and now scientists have evidence to back the claim


i-Newswire, 2005-03-26 - Researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs ( VA ) and the University of California at Los Angeles ( UCLA ) found that a diet high in docosahexenoic acid, or DHA--an omega-3 fatty acid found in relatively high concentrations in cold-water fish--dramatically slowed the progression of Alzheimer's disease in mice. Specifically, DHA cut the harmful brain plaques that mark the disease. The results appear in the March 23 online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Senior author Greg M. Cole, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System and UCLA, said that unlike many studies with mice, this one points to the benefits of a therapy that is easily available and already touted for other medical conditions. DHA--either from food sources such as fish and soy, or in fish-oil supplements--is recommended by many cardiologists for heart health, based on scores of previous studies.

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Posted by gruwell at March 28, 2005 9:12 AM | TrackBack