Fish Oil Helps Fight Alzheimer’s

A new study by scientists at the UCLA have confirmed something that researchers working on Alzheimer’s disease have always spoken about – fish oil can help delay or even stop Alzheimer’s. The scientists at UCLA have, through their study, been able to provide the reasons for the effectiveness of fish oil.

Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s have been found to have reduced amounts of a protein called LR11. The new study by the UCLA team found that docosahexaenoic acid or DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid present in fish oil caused an increase in LR11 production in Alzheimer’s patients.

LR11 is able to kill the beta amyloid protein deposits responsible for forming the toxic plaque. The toxic plaque destroys the neurons, one of the factors responsible for the onset of Alzheimer’s.

As part of their work, the UCLA team studied the effects that fish oil or DHA had in a number of biological systems. They used two ways to administer the oil– either as part of the test subjects’ diet or in the laboratory by administering it straight to the neurons.

According to Greg Cole, professor of medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the university, and also associate director of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s Geriatric Research Center, DHA had a strong impact on the production of LR11.

Cole said, “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.” The researchers also studied the impact of DHA on neural cells of human origin to demonstrate their findings held good for nonhuman as well as human cells.

The use of fish oil is not a new development. Alternative health practitioners have been prescribing its use for a long time. It, along with its main ingredient, omega-3 fatty acids, have also been endorsed by the American Heart Association after there was evidence that it brought down the risk of cardiovascular disease.

DHA is called an essential fatty acid, as the human body does not produce it on its own, and depends on the diet to provide it. According to Cole, it is the most abundantly found essential fatty acid in the brain. He says it is vital for brain development in the fetus and also in infants.

Cole says that while the importance of DHA has been established through the study, the quantity to be consumed as a single dosage remains to be determined. It might be higher in the United States, he says, as fish consumption is not too high here.

Other scientists who were part of the UCLA research team included Bruce Teter, Qui-Lan Ma, Oliver J. Ubede, Dilsher Dhoot, Michael D. Nyby, Michael L. Tuck, Sally A. Frautschy, and Takashi Morihara. The research findings appear in the current issue of the online version of the Journal of Neuroscience.