Emily Chan
They looked at observational studies that investigated the dietary habits of people over the age of 50 and used a variety of tools to track cognitive outcomes over time, such as clinical diagnoses of dementia or Alzheimer’s and assessments of cognitive decline or impairment.
Food frequency questionnaires and journal entries regarding diet were also utilized in the studies to measure how much fish people ate.
Overall, the researchers included 35 studies in their analysis, with more than 849,000 participants from around the world.
The researchers separated the participants into categories based on how much fish they consumed. Then, they compared the people who ate the most fish to the people who ate the least.
They calculated risk ratios to determine how likely it was for each group to develop cognitive decline.
They found that people who ate the most fish were much less likely to experience cognitive decline than those who ate the least.
The highest fish consumers had an 18 percent reduced risk of cognitive decline or impairment.
Furthermore, high levels of fish consumption were associated with an 18 percent lower chance of dementia and a 15 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Individuals consuming fish regularly seem to be at a lower risk of cognitive decline,” said Grosso. “The average person should just take this into account since many people simply do not eat fish almost at all.”
So, the next time you’re planning dinner, make sure that fish is part of the meal! The study was published in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.
