Fish enhances cognitive skills in teenagers: Research

Sweden, March 10: A new research designed to measure intellect showed that teenagers who ate fish at least once a week displayed higher cognitive skills than those who ate it less often.

Professor Kjell Torén from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, the lead researcher, says, "We found a clear link between frequent fish consumption and higher scores when male teenagers ate fish at least once a week. When they ate fish more than once a week, the improvement almost doubled.”

Researchers questioned 3972 15-year-old boys about their daily diet including intake of fish. Around 57 per cent of the participants ate fish once a week, 20 per cent ate it more than once a week and 23 per cent ate it less than once a week.

They were tested on logic and verbal reasoning, ability to process information, speed of information processing, memory retention, language, executive functions along with technical, mechanical and mathematical skills.

The researchers then compared the data with the cognitive scores recorded in the Swedish Military Conscription records three years later. They observed that those who ate fish once a week scored 6 percent higher than those who did not eat fish at all. The ones who ate fish more than once a week demonstrated an 11 percent higher score.

Taking into account other variables like intellect of the parents, they found that eating fish had a “significant impact” on the scores. Fish in an adolescent’s diet made a difference in contributing to his intellectual development.

Dr Maria Aberg from the Centre for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation at the University of Gothenburg stated that "We also found the same association between fish and intelligence in the teenagers regardless of their parents' level of education."

The researchers admit that the mechanism linking fish consumption to a better cognitive performance is ambiguous, but believe that it may be associated with the high amounts of the fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6 found in fish.

Professor Toren commented "The most widely held theory is that it is the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish that have positive effects on cognitive performance. Perhaps Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids accumulate in the brain, in the same way as when a fetus develops, leading to improved brain function.”

Previous studies indicate that fish helps neurodevelopment in infants, significantly reduces impaired reasoning in middle age and benefits babies whose mothers eat fish during pregnancy.

The researchers intend on exploring exactly which kind of fish enhances cognitive skills in teenagers - lean fish or fatty fish.

The study was published in the March issue of Acta Paediatrica.