Health
Study calls omega-3 fatty acid super brain food against Alzheimer's disease
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 20, 2004
A diet high in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, helped protect the brains of mice genetically engineered to behave like the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease from the memory loss and cell damage caused by the disease, said a study published in the Sept. 2 issue of the journal Neuron.
"Consuming more DHA is something the average person can easily control," said Greg Cole, PhD, senior author of the study and professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles. "Anyone can buy DHA in its purified form, fish-oil capsules, high-fat fish or DHA-supplemented eggs."
The researchers were using mice bred with genetic mutations that cause the brain lesions linked to advanced Alzheimer's disease to test environmental risk factors for the disorder when they noticed that, while the mice were developing the lesions, they showed minimal memory loss or synaptic brain damage.
They next took a closer look at the animals' diet and found it was chock-full of omega-3 fatty acids. Additional tests led to the conclusion that the DHA-enriched diet was holding their genetic disease at bay, Dr. Cole said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/09/20/hlbf0920.htm.
