Fatty Acid in Fish May Arrest Alzheimer's

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Fatty Acid in Fish May Arrest Alzheimer's

Wed Sep 1,11:46 PM ET Add Health - HealthDay to My

By Kathleen Doheny

HealthDay Reporter

 

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDayNews) -- A diet rich in the omega-3

fatty acid called DHA, which is found in alaskan salmon, halibut,

and other cold-water fish, protects the brain from the damage caused

by Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), a new study says

 

 

While the research, which appears in the Sept. 2 issue of Neuron,

involved only animals, the premise is based on human studies

focusing on risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, said study author

Greg Cole, a professor of medicine and neurology at UCLA's David

Geffen School of Medicine.

 

Many studies have shown an association between low DHA

(docosahexaenoic acid) intake and increasing risk of Alzheimer's

disease, Cole said.

 

A constant supply of DHA is crucial for normal brain function in

humans.

 

Cole's team focused on altering the diet of lab mice once they were

17 months old, after feeding them a normal diet high in omega-3

fatty acids during their infancy.

 

 

They studied mice bred with genetic mutations that cause the lesions

linked to advanced Alzheimer's, assigning them to one of three

groups. " Group one continued on the diet they had always gotten, "

Cole said. " Group two was put on a special diet with no DHA. Group

three's diet had more DHA than the diet they grew up on. "

 

 

Three other groups of mice without the genetic mutations, serving as

controls, were given the same three diets as the genetically altered

mice.

After five months, the researchers compared the mice on the

different diets.

 

The mice with the genetic mutations fed a DHA-deficient diet had

high amounts of damage to their synapses, the chemical connections

between the brain's neurons that help the flow of information, Cole

said.

 

The changes resemble what is seen in the brains of people with

Alzheimer's, he added.

 

 

" The [DHA-deficient] diet and the Alzheimer's gene interact to cause

a deficit of DHA in the brains of the animals, " Cole said.

 

 

The mice on the DHA-deficient diet with the genetic mutation had 90

percent more synaptic loss compared to those with the genetic

mutation fed the DHA-rich diet, Cole said.

 

 

On memory tests given the animals, those with the genetic mutation

whose diets had no DHA took twice as long to perform on a test of

spatial memory, said study co-author Sally Frautschy, an associate

professor of medicine at UCLA and a research health scientist at the

Greater Los Angeles Health Care System. The test would be roughly

equivalent to a human trying to remember where he parked his car,

she said.

 

 

The study breaks new ground because " it shows the disease itself

depletes our brain of DHA through oxidation, and you can correct it

by putting it back [via a DHA-rich diet], " Frautschy said.

 

" The study shows that replenishing the DHA can arrest the

development of Alzheimer's, at least in animals. "

 

 

Added Cole: " We have evidence that DHA works as a risk factor for

Alzheimer's disease from associated studies. We know DHA is getting

oxidized in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

 

And it's practically harmless to add it back to your diet. "

 

 

About 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to

the Alzheimer's Association. The complex and progressive disease

destroys brain cells and robs sufferers of their memory.

 

 

" It's a good study, done in a good place, " said Bill Thies, vice

president for medical and scientific affairs for the Alzheimer's

Association. " The only thing we have to remember is it's a study

done in mice, and mice aren't people. "

But Thies adds that the findings are " consistent with a growing body

of evidence that makes risk factors for heart disease correlate with

those for Alzheimer's disease. "

 

For instance, he said, " we already know that omega-3 fatty acids

seem to have an impact on heart disease, and it's possible that

eating more fish reduces heart disease. "

 

 

Cole and Frautschy suggest that people consider taking DHA

supplements in the form of fish oil capsules or eating more fish or

organic omega-3 enriched eggs. But Thies prefers to advise people to

simply eat more fish, echoing the advice of the author of the

editorial accompanying the study.

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