Health Articles

Eating *fish* may reduce risk of Alzheimer's, study suggests

The Daily News (Nanaimo)
Wed 23 Jul 2003
Page: B12
Section: Lifestyles
Source: The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Older people who eat *fish* at least once a week may cut their risk of Alzheimer's by more than half, a study suggests.

The study adds to the evidence that diet may affect a person's chances of developing the mind-robbing disease that affects more than four million North Americans.

Researchers found that people 65 and older who had *fish* once a week had a 60 per cent lower risk of Alzheimer's than those who never or rarely ate *fish*. The meals included tuna sandwiches, fishsticks and shellfish; the amounts eaten were not specified.

"This is very promising, but it's very early and really we need to have a lot more studies," said lead researcher Dr. Martha Clare Morris of Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center.

The study involved 815 Chicago residents 65 and older. Follow-up tests nearly four years later found that 131 participants had developed Alzheimer's.

The researchers found an association between eating *fish* and a reduced risk of Alzheimer's even after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity and risk factors like heart disease.

The study was published Monday in the Archives of Neurology. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health. If the finding holds up, it could provide a simple way for people to reduce their risk of Alzheimer's, said Neil Buckholtz, chief of the dementia division at the National Institute on Aging.