Fish pills, fish pills, roly-poly fish pills...
Omega 3 fatty acids, the fatty oil typically found in fish, has a myriad of health benefits. Primarily, the research said that the fish oil had major benefits for heart health and brain health, with the brain health being most interesting to researchers. After all, there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, so if fish oil can improve brain health, there’s no reason not to take it. Unfortunately, .
“From these studies, there doesn’t appear to be any benefit for cognitive health for older people of taking omega-3 supplements,” said Alan Dangour, a nutritionist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “However, these were relatively short-term studies, so we saw very little deterioration in cognitive function in either the intervention groups or the control groups. It may take much longer to see any effect of these supplements.”
The study looked at some 3500 people ages 60 and over and measured their performance on cognitive tasks. There were three separate trials, ranging in length from 6 months to 3 and a half years. According to the studies, taking fish oil had no effect on the health of the brain as far as dementia was concerned.
Of course, the study authors admit that their study was a fairly short-term look, so there may be some life-long benefit to fish oil consumption yet to be discovered. So don’t fry up the family goldfish just yet, but don’t not eat your regular portions of fish.
Tags: health news, health research, brain health, Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia, fish oil and dementia, fish oil and brain health, fish oil does not protect against Alzheimer’s, fish oil does not prevent dementia, fish oil and the brain, unusual health news, health research, omega 3 fatty acids, Alan Dangour, London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine
