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Why Fish Oil is Good for You
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
It's good news that we are living longer, but bad news that the longer we
live, the better our odds of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Many Alzheimer's researchers have long touted fish oil, by pill or diet, as
an accessible and inexpensive "weapon" that may delay or prevent this
debilitating disease. Now, UCLA scientists have confirmed that fish oil is
indeed a deterrent against Alzheimer's, and they have identified the reasons
why.
Reporting in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, now online,
Greg Cole, professor of medicine and neurology at the David Geffen School of
Medicine at UCLA and associate director of UCLA's Alzheimer Disease Research
Center, and his colleagues report that the omega-3 fatty acid
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in fish oil increases the production of
LR11, a protein that is found at reduced levels in Alzheimer's patients and
which is known to destroy the protein that forms the "plaques" associated
with the disease.
The plaques are deposits of a protein called beta amyloid that is thought to
be toxic to neurons in the brain, leading to Alzheimer's. Since having high
levels of LR11 prevents the toxic plaques from being made, low levels in
patients are believed to be a factor in causing the disease.
Alzheimer's is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that causes memory
loss, dementia, personality change and ultimately death. The national
Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.1 million Americans are currently
afflicted with the disease and predicts that the number may increase to
between 11 million and 16 million people by the year 2050.
The researchers examined the effects of fish oil, or its component DHA, in
multiple biological systems and administered the oil or fatty acid by diet
and by adding it directly to neurons grown in the laboratory.
"We found that even low doses of DHA increased the levels of LR11 in rat
neurons, while dietary DHA increased LR11 in brains of rats or older mice
that had been genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease," said
Cole, who is also associate director of the Geriatric Research Center at the
Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
To show that the benefits of DHA were not limited to nonhuman animal cells,
the researchers also confirmed a direct impact of DHA on human neuronal
cells in culture as well. Thus, high levels of DHA leading to abundant LR11
seem to protect against Alzheimer's, Cole said, while low LR11 levels lead
to formation of the amyloid plaques.
Fish oil and its key ingredient, omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish
like salmon), have been a mainstay of alternative health practitioners for
years and have been endorsed by the American Heart Association to reduce the
risk of cardiovascular disease.
Fatty acids like DHA are considered "essential" fatty acids because the body
cannot make them from other sources and must obtain them through diet. Years
of research have shown that DHA is the most abundant essential fatty acid in
the brain, Cole said, and that it is critical to fetal and infant brain
development. Studies have also linked low levels of DHA in the brain to
cognitive impairment and have shown that lower levels may increase oxidative
stress in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
Based on the positive results, the National Institutes of Health is
currently conducting a large-scale clinical trial with DHA in patients with
established Alzheimer's disease. For those patients, Cole said, it may be
too late in the disease's progression for DHA to have much effect. But he is
hopeful that the NIH will conduct a large-scale prevention clinical trial
using fish oil at the earliest stages of the disease - particularly because
it is unlikely that a pharmaceutical company will do so, since fish oil in
pill form is readily available and inexpensive.
Still to be determined, he said, "is what the optimal dose should be. It
could be that a smaller amount might be helpful, especially in a place like
the south of France, where people are already on a Mediterranean diet."
Here in the United States, though, where fish consumption is not very high,
the dose may need to be higher.
"There's a deficiency of DHA to begin with," Cole said, "and this may
contribute to the low LR11 seen in many Alzheimer's patients."
Why Fish Oil is Good for You
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
It's good news that we are living longer, but bad news that the longer we
live, the better our odds of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Many Alzheimer's researchers have long touted fish oil, by pill or diet, as
an accessible and inexpensive "weapon" that may delay or prevent this
debilitating disease. Now, UCLA scientists have confirmed that fish oil is
indeed a deterrent against Alzheimer's, and they have identified the reasons
why.
Reporting in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, now online,
Greg Cole, professor of medicine and neurology at the David Geffen School of
Medicine at UCLA and associate director of UCLA's Alzheimer Disease Research
Center, and his colleagues report that the omega-3 fatty acid
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in fish oil increases the production of
LR11, a protein that is found at reduced levels in Alzheimer's patients and
which is known to destroy the protein that forms the "plaques" associated
with the disease.
The plaques are deposits of a protein called beta amyloid that is thought to
be toxic to neurons in the brain, leading to Alzheimer's. Since having high
levels of LR11 prevents the toxic plaques from being made, low levels in
patients are believed to be a factor in causing the disease.
Alzheimer's is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that causes memory
loss, dementia, personality change and ultimately death. The national
Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.1 million Americans are currently
afflicted with the disease and predicts that the number may increase to
between 11 million and 16 million people by the year 2050.
The researchers examined the effects of fish oil, or its component DHA, in
multiple biological systems and administered the oil or fatty acid by diet
and by adding it directly to neurons grown in the laboratory.
"We found that even low doses of DHA increased the levels of LR11 in rat
neurons, while dietary DHA increased LR11 in brains of rats or older mice
that had been genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease," said
Cole, who is also associate director of the Geriatric Research Center at the
Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
To show that the benefits of DHA were not limited to nonhuman animal cells,
the researchers also confirmed a direct impact of DHA on human neuronal
cells in culture as well. Thus, high levels of DHA leading to abundant LR11
seem to protect against Alzheimer's, Cole said, while low LR11 levels lead
to formation of the amyloid plaques.
Fish oil and its key ingredient, omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish
like salmon), have been a mainstay of alternative health practitioners for
years and have been endorsed by the American Heart Association to reduce the
risk of cardiovascular disease.
Fatty acids like DHA are considered "essential" fatty acids because the body
cannot make them from other sources and must obtain them through diet. Years
of research have shown that DHA is the most abundant essential fatty acid in
the brain, Cole said, and that it is critical to fetal and infant brain
development. Studies have also linked low levels of DHA in the brain to
cognitive impairment and have shown that lower levels may increase oxidative
stress in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
Based on the positive results, the National Institutes of Health is
currently conducting a large-scale clinical trial with DHA in patients with
established Alzheimer's disease. For those patients, Cole said, it may be
too late in the disease's progression for DHA to have much effect. But he is
hopeful that the NIH will conduct a large-scale prevention clinical trial
using fish oil at the earliest stages of the disease - particularly because
it is unlikely that a pharmaceutical company will do so, since fish oil in
pill form is readily available and inexpensive.
Still to be determined, he said, "is what the optimal dose should be. It
could be that a smaller amount might be helpful, especially in a place like
the south of France, where people are already on a Mediterranean diet."
Here in the United States, though, where fish consumption is not very high,
the dose may need to be higher.
"There's a deficiency of DHA to begin with," Cole said, "and this may
contribute to the low LR11 seen in many Alzheimer's patients."
