If you’re wondering whether you’ll lose your memory and cognitive abilities as you get older, take a look at the amount of fish you eat each week and that should give you a clue. There’s a direct association between long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) found in oily fish and the health of our brain, scientists have discovered.
Too many people eat far too little fish, and most of what they do eat is canned tuna, say researchers from Tufts University. The recommended amount of seafood we should be eating each week is around eight ounces, which translates to 1,750 mg of EPA and DHA a week, or 250 mg a day. But of the 895 participants assessed by researchers, just 27 per cent were consuming the recommended amount.
After carrying out a series of memory and word tests, the researchers concluded that those eating the least amount of PUFAs were also the most likely to suffer mental decline over the next 24 months, as their assessment two years later confirmed.
Source: FASEB Experimental Biology conference, April 27, 2014