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Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in abundance in oily fish such as mackerel and sardines
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Against this backdrop, a research team at the USC School of Medicine has published the results of a large, two-year clinical trial involving older adults at elevated risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Key facts
- Yassine and his colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 365 men and women between the ages of 55 and 80 who rarely ate fish
- One group received a daily supplement containing 2,000 mg of DHA, while the other received a placebo for 24 months
- After 24 months, participants completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, a standardized test of memory and cognitive performance
- Nearly half of the participants (47 percent) carried the APOE ε4 allele, the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease
Summary
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in abundance in oily fish such as mackerel and sardines, is thought to improve cognitive function by supporting connections between brain cells. “Everyone hopes for a silver bullet to prevent Alzheimer's disease, but we can't say that fish oil supplements protect brain health,” said Hussein Naji Yassine, director of the Personalized Brain Health Center at USC. Yassine and his colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 365 men and women between the ages of 55 and 80 who rarely ate fish. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups.