Dish prepared with salmon(Photo: Astrid Hals/Norwegian Seafood Council)

Fish consumtion may reduce dementia in elderly people

UNITED STATES
Thursday, February 04, 2016, 03:00 (GMT + 9)

A new study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the benefits of eating fish outweigh any potential damage from its mercury content in old people.

Lead author Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, said, “Seafood is touted for its many health benefits.

“A large number of studies have shown that it slows cognitive decline with aging and reduces risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,” she noted.

However, some seniors worry that consuming fish with mercury will actually damage their brains. This study is aimed at dispelling those concerns.

For the research, scientists recruited old people who donated their brain after they died.

Some 286 brains were studied for changes associated with dementia. These changes include the presence of plaques and tangles in the brain, hallmark features of Alzheimer's dementia.

Researchers concluded that eating seafood at least once a week decreased the occurrence of those changes, but the benefits were only seen in people with a genetic variant called APOE e4, which is the largest known genetic risk factor for late onset Alzheimer's disease, Eyewitness News reported.

"The increased level of seafood consumption did increase brain levels of mercury, but that the mercury didn't appear to have an impact on brain health," Morris concluded.

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