Daily omega-3 fatty acid supplements don’t seem to provide any protection against declines in thinking and memory skills in older adults, new medical evidence suggests.
Because the brain is rich in the type of polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish oil, researchers had figured that adding more of them to a person’s diet could boost memory and prevent the changes that lead to cognitive decline and dementia: but so-called “gold standard” trials of the supplements have been disappointing. “The evidence suggests, from what is available at the moment, that taking supplements rich in omega-3 fatty acids is not going to benefit cognitive health later in life,” said Alan Dangour, a nutrition researcher from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who worked on the new analysis.
None of the studies showed a comparative benefit for fish oil on measures of cognition, including word and number learning tests.
It also may take more than a few years for any benefit of the fatty acids to show up, if one does exist. Or, it could be that getting extra fish oil through supplements only helps people who are low in the fatty acids to begin with, and not those who get enough through their diet.
Other studies have suggested fish oil may have beneficial effects on heart health, and recommendations from groups such as the American Heart Association call for people to eat two servings of fish each week, preferably fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.
Neurologist Dr Gregory Jicha from the University Of Kentucky College Of Medicine in Lexington said although the presumed benefits of fish oil on cognition aren’t clear in randomized studies, people can still reasonably choose to take the supplements because they typically carry few risks.
Dangour said despite the shaky evidence on the role of fish oil, there are things older adults can do to ward off memory loss, as “Keeping cognitively active in later life , including retirement and keeping physically active in later life are extremely important for the maintenance of cognitive function,” he said.
