How long has it been since you kissed a fish?
Never? Well, me neither, but both of us better get started. You kiss the mackerel and I’ll do the salmon.
But why this demo of affection? Because more and more it looks as if the oils from fish are protective against the disease we all dread---Alzheimer’s Disease, known in the aging biz as AD. (AD, a brain disease, causes memory loss, personality change and in the bitter end, death.) So the good news is that research keeps piling up data indicating oils in fish are protective against AD. And there is no bad news about the fish oil-AD connection---which is why I am kissing the first fish I meet today.
So Why Are Such Important Facts Obscure?
You may not have heard much about fish oils preventing or delaying AD because fish oil is not a patentable drug. Nobody on earth invented fish and so no drug company can claim a patent which would corner the market. With no great financial rewards in sight, no drug company is going to advertise it on TV or spend the money to urge you to ask your doctor if fish is right for you.
What’s more, the fishing industry---the basic purveyor of finny critters and their oils---can’t promote health benefits in the US unless they conduct wildly expensive drug trials to satisfy the FDA. And then, after all the trouble and expense of trials to prove the efficacy of fish oil, they couldn’t patent the product either. So the fish industry is silent too.
But there’s good news: research is still being conducted, often funded by your tax dollars, at the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Here are some of the facts they have turned up thanks to the money we send them.
The Up-To-The Minute Research
From the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience comes the info that the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in fish oil increases the production of LR11, a protein found at reduced levels in people with AD and “which is known to destroy the plaques associated with the disease”. So low levels of LR11 may be a factor in causing the disease. To me, this means I might go kiss a fish or rather eat it and maybe get some LR11 into my brain.
Salmon and mackerel seem to be the oily fish most recommended by nutritionists which may give new meaning to the expression “Holy Mackerel’”. Anything that can delay or prevent AD is indeed holy.
Now the results in the journal above were achieved on rats and mice and I was curious to check out the results in the human world. What country eats the most fish? Japan by far---three times as much as North Americans. And what is the incidence of AD in Japan? Half of what it is here.
So while all the answers about AD are not yet known, the above is enough for me to grill up salmon more often---and, as the people at the Monterey Aquarium tell us, to make it wild salmon.
Words for the Wise
There are many extra added attractions to fish which is why the American Heart Association tells us to eat fish at least twice a week. Some of the latest research focuses on mood. It indicates fish may help elevate mood and fight depression. One study at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that people with higher levels of omega-3 in their blood were “more agreeable.”
I'm sending some salmon to Congress.
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