There’s Something Fishy About DHA vs Alzheimer’s

Omega-3 fatty acids have many benefits for the health, including for the brain!

We wrote about some of them, here: What Omega-3 Fatty Acids Really Do For Us

There are even some less well-known benefits, such as: Why Healthy Teeth May Depend On Omega-3 & Exercise

Now, the press has not been all positive, for example: Fish Oil Can Backfire Without This Enzyme

So, what about vs Alzheimer’s?

There are two main things that fish oil is marketed for: joint health, and brain health.

But, when it comes to reduction of Alzheimer’s risk, it seems the reality may not live up to the hype:

Researchers (Dr. Sara Ghasem Pour et al.) tested whether high-dose fish oil supplementation could help prevent Alzheimer’s-related brain changes in older adults at elevated risk for dementia, particularly those with low omega-3 intake and many carrying the APOE ε4 genetic risk variant, and found…

…when 365 adults aged 55–80 without dementia were randomly assigned to receive either 2 g/day of DHA (a major omega-3 fatty acid) or a placebo for 24 months,

❝despite higher brain DHA levels, participants taking DHA showed no improvement in memory, cognition, or other cognitive measures compared with the placebo group after two years❞

Further, there were no structural changes, i.e. MRI scans found no significant differences in brain volume or hippocampal shrinkage between the DHA and placebo groups.

And lastly, APOE ε4 status didn’t matter: the increase in brain DHA occurred regardless of whether participants carried the APOE ε4 gene, but neither carriers nor non-carriers experienced cognitive or brain-structure benefits.

You can read the paper in full, here: CNS target engagement of high-dose DHA supplementation in older adults at risk for dementia: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Want to do better for your brain?

You do have other options!

For example, as well as the difference between EPA and DHA, there are also plant-based omega-3s that just have ALA (and not EPA or DHA) which the body can convert to whatever omega-3 form it needs (just like the fish did, for we too are animals that can do that, and for this reason our liver fats would, if healthy, also be a good source of EPA/DHA if something were to predate on us).

For more on that, check out: Omega-3s: Different Sources, Different Benefits?

…and if you just want to reduce your Alzheimer’s risk, then check out:

• Alzheimer’s Causative Factors To Avoid
• How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk

Enjoy!