To avoid cognitive decline, more doses of omega-3 supplements may be required.

: To avoid cognitive decline, more doses of omega-3 supplements may be needed to u.S. medical service and Health International, and for years, a scientific conundrum has plagued researchers working to fight Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a common and incurable form of dementia.numerous laboratory studies and population studies support the prevention potential of omega-3 fatty acids, and "good fats" are found in a large number of fish. So far, however, most studies that have assessed omega-3s in avoiding or reducing cognitive decline in humans have not shown any benefit.now, a small clinical trial at the University of Southern California provides important clues to this discrepancy. This is the first Alzheimer's disease prevention study that compares omega-3 levels in the blood with omega-3 levels in the central nervous system. The results suggest that in order to change this, more doses of omega-3 fatty acid supplements may be needed, as a sharp rise in omega-3 fatty acid levels in the blood is accompanied by a much smaller increase in the brain. Among participants who carried specific mutations that increased their risk of Alzheimer's disease, taking supplements improved at a much lower level of a key fatty acid than those without mutations.the paper, published today in the journal Biomedical Sciences.researchers recruited 33 participants with risk factors for Alzheimer's disease but no cognitive impairment. All participants had a family history, a sedentary lifestyle, and a low-fat fish diet. Fifteen of them carried a variant of a gene called APOE4, which is linked to inflammation of the brain that increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease by four times or more;participants were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group. Members of the treatment group were asked to take more than 2 grams of -3 fatty acids - 22 hexaric acid (DHA) supplements per day for six consecutive months. The control group members were given a placebo daily during the same period. Both groups of participants were also asked to take a compound b vitamin daily, which helps the body treat -3 fatty acids.Dr.and his colleagues collected plasma and cerebrospinal fluid samples from participants at the beginning and at the end of the study to determine whether omega-3 fatty acids reached the brain. The scientists looked at the levels of two omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and 20 carbon pentaerate (EPA), an effective anti-inflammatory substance that can be produced by the human body ingesting a small portion of DHA.iseffective with high doses of -3 fatty acids?researchers found that after six months, participants who took omega-3 supplements had 200 percent higher levels of DHA in their blood than those who took a placebo. In contrast, the dHA content in the cerebrospinal fluid of the treatment group was only 28% higher than that of the control group. The results suggest that measuring the amount of omega-3 in the blood does not indicate how much reaches the brain.Dr.and his co-authors also reported that in the treatment group, people who did not have a risk of APOE4 mutation had three times more levels of EPA (anti-inflammatory-3 fatty acids) in the cerebrospinal fluid than those carrying the gene.noteworthy, in this study, the dose of 2 grams of DHA far exceeded the dose of omega-3 prevention in large clinical trials, which typically take 1 gram or less per day."If you take a lower dose, you can expect the amount of omega-3 to increase by less than 10 percent in your brain, which may be considered pointless," dr.Yassin said.the sacrifice of study participants to advance Alzheimer's research researchers spent two years recruiting participants. The barrier to entry comes from the only way to extract cerebrospinal fluid: lumbar puncture, also known as spinal puncture. Finding someone willing to undergo the procedure, which requires a hollow needle to pierce the waist twice, has proved challenging. Dr. Dr. Yassin spoke highly of the study participants. "They spent a lot of time and were brave enough to have a lumbar puncture," he said. "The main reason they do this is to promote science." the bravery of participants may give them more knowledge about omega-3 and Alzheimer's disease. preliminary data from the current study is fascinating, and scientists could attract funding for a larger trial being recruited. Over a two-year period, the study will study 320 participants to determine whether high doses of -3 fatty acids can slow cognitive decline in lipoprotein e-4 gene carriers. , dr. Yassin, sees progress from small-scale studies to large-scale studies as a good model for developing brain-specific therapies and prevention.
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