Research on omega-3 fish oils keeps looking better and better: new studies have found that omega-3s fish oils can help with three catastrophic diseases — Alzheimer’s, heart failure, and cancer.
Ernst J. Schaefer, MD, of the USDA’s nutrition research center at Tufts University, Boston, analyzed levels of omega-3s and the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. He and his colleagues measured blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, one of the principal omega-3s in fish) in 899 elderly men and women. More than half of the subjects also completed dietary questionnaires, which were used to assess intake of DHA and fish.
Over nine years, 99 of the subjects developed dementia. Schaefer determined that people with the highest blood levels of DHA were about half as likely to develop dementia, compared with people who consumed little DHA. They were also 39 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
People with the highest DHA levels consumed about three servings of fish each week, which provided the equivalent of 180 mg of DHA daily.
Fats form about 50 percent of the brain’s nonwater weight, and DHA is the predominant fat found in cell membranes of the brain’s gray matter.
In a separate study, Alberto U. Ferrari, MD, of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, treated 25 heart failure patients with beta-blocker and ACE-inhibitor drugs. All of the patients had previously suffered a heart attack that left them with a weakened ability to pump blood. more on story
