Ageing and memory loss seem to go together

You get older, your memory gets worse. Just about everyone notices it. But do aging and memory loss really have to go together? Is memory loss inevitable as you age?

However aging and memory loss needn’t necessarily go together. I know someone who is over 100 years old who has cognitive faculties and a memory as sharp as a tack.

Memory loss with age is probably genetically determined. However there are lots of conditions which are genetically determined which are also dramatically affected by other factors. It seems from recent research that memory loss may be one of these.

A recent study discussed recently at the American Academy of Neurology’s Honolulu meeting considered research done at the University of California in San Francisco.

The research was designed to investigate how inflammation in the brain could impact on the onset of age-related memory loss.

Inflammation just means swelling, and inflammation is at the root of so many health conditions that affect so many of us, particularly lifestyle conditions. And as science moves forward more and more researchers are beginning to link inflammation with more and more health complaints.

A clinical professor of neuropsychology from the University of California found in a study that older people with higher levels of inflammation were found to have poorer levels of memory.

The study examined a group of older people with an average age of over 70, and these people were tested for inflammation in the brain as well as their ability to remember a range of words.

The results demonstrated that those who had more inflammation in the brain also exhibited a lower level of memory.

What does all this have to do with fish you may ask? The oil found in fish contains the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. The Omega 3 fats, particularly DHA and EPA, the most important of the Omega 3 fats, are extremely effective anti-inflammatories.

And research is showing that it is this anti-inflammatory effect, amongst others, that makes the Omega 3 fats so essential to the correct operation of our body. The Omega3 fats are more effective as anti-inflammatories than some anti-inflammatory drugs.

And here’s the rub. The only way to get more Omega 3 fats in your body is to get more in your diet, because the only way they get in your body is through what you eat. If you don’t eat foods with enough essential fatty acids in them you won’t be getting enough, there is no other way.

Fish is by far the best known source of the Omega3 fats, but unfortunately fish is expensive and, as is being more and more understood, also contaminated to a degree by industrial toxins.

If you eat more fish you will increase your intake of the essential fatty acids. Changes in our dietary habits over the last century have resulted in a significant decline in the amount of fish in our diet, and there is clear evidence that virtually all of us are now deficient in the Omega3 fats.

The best fish is oily fish. Even better is to take quality Omega 3 supplements, the best of which are quite free from contamination and are much more cost effective to take daily.

There is no guarantee that if you increase your intake of the essential fatty acids you’ll have a perfect memory right up to the age of 100. Like all these things there are other contributing factors. However it seems clear that there are so many other health benefits from increasing your intake of the Omega 3 fatty acids that you should be doing so regardless, for your general health.

One of the most important things about staying healthy is to be proactive. Eat a better diet, exercise more, don’t smoke and so on. You know what you should be doing.

One to add to the list, that is simple, not that expensive and effort free, is taking Omega 3 supplements every day, and eating more fish.

You just have to remember.

There’s no doubt about the health benefits of fish oil, but how about Asthma?

It seems that the health benefits of fish oil, or more specifically the health benefits of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) and EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid), found in fish oil, may also extend to asthma sufferers.

There’s no doubt from decades of research that too many of us have an inadequate intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids, and that the benefits of fish oil supplementation, or of eating more fish, extend to many areas of your health. This may now include asthma.

Over the last few decades the amount of fish in the average Australian diet has declined. The Omega 3 essential fatty acids are found more in fish then in any other food, and therefore this decline in our intake of fish has also resulted in a decline in our intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids.

And research is showing that there are significant health downsides from eating less of the Omega 3 fatty acids, primarily DHA and EPA. Health downsides include an increase in our risk of dying from heart attack.

But is there a fish oil asthma link, or in other words can increasing our intake of fish oil, and therefore of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids, help improve your asthma?

The first thing to say is that there is no definitive answer to this question. However the basic principles suggest that there may be a link between more Omega 3 and asthma reduction.

This is because the Omega 3 essential fatty acids are excellent anti-inflammatories, meaning that they help reduce inflammation in the body. Asthma is an inflammatory condition, and therefore it would make sense that an effective anti-inflammatory may well help reduce asthma symptoms.

However this doesn’t mean it’s so.

And of course there is really 2 questions. Firstly can increasing your intake of fish oil prevent asthma, and secondly can it help reduce the symptoms if you already have it?

A partial answer to these questions may have been provided by a study(see below) published in the American Journal of clinical nutrition in 2008.

In the study 533 women, all pregnant, were recruited for a study. Some of the women were given supplements. Some of these supplements contained fish oil, some contained olive oil. Some women got no supplements at all.

And the children that resulted from these pregnancies were studied in the succeeding period. In particular, 16 years later, they were assessed for asthma. And it was found that the “hazard rate for allergic asthma was reduced by 87 percent … in the fish oil compared with the olive oil group”.

And the conclusion was that “increasing n–3 PUFAs in late pregnancy may carry an important prophylactic potential in relation to offspring asthma.(n-3 PUFAs being the Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids).

In other words it seems from the study that women taking fish oil supplements during pregnancy reduced the risk of asthma in the child born from that pregnancy.

Other studies have also confirmed the possibility of a fish oil asthma link, not just from taking Omega 3 supplements during pregnancy but also after birth. And of course like all these things there are also studies pointing in the opposite direction.

There is no doubt that there are a wide range of health benefits from taking high quality Omega3 supplements, because the health benefits of fish oil supplementation are now firmly established. Even well recognised organisations such as the American Heart Association confirm a reduction in the likelihood of heart disease and heart attack by increasing the intake of the Omega3 fats.

Whether or not this extends to a reduction in asthma symptoms or in a reduction in the risk of asthma may still be up in the air and in need of further study. But there’s no doubt that everyone, unless they eat lots of fish, should be making more efforts to ensure an adequate supply of the Omega 3 fats in their diet, generally by the use of high quality fish oil supplements. Read the rest of this entry