Researchers from the Karolinska Institute have shown that omega-3 from fish oils can cross the blood brain barrier and this may be crucial in reducing inflammation in cases of Alzheimer’s.
Omega-3 in fish oils comes in two forms DHA and EPA. People with Alzheimer’s are known to be deficient in DHA. DHA levels in the brain are inversely proportional to both the level of inflammation and the degree of Alzheimer’s.
Repeated failure of drugs to combat this inflammation has been linked to the protective properties of the blood-brain barrier.
Professor Jan Palmblad, a co-author, said that DHA levels were seen to rise in the cerebrospinal flood during a month of supplementation. There was no such rise in the control group.
It would seem, as a minimum, that a daily fish oil supplement, may be a very real way of warding off dementia of Alzheimer’s.
Only recently we covered research that showed fish oils and olive oil acted synergistically to improve health, while another study showed that fish oils caused increases in commensal bacteria and resulted in heighted immune response.
Daily supplementation with fish oils may well be a ‘no brainer’ – or is it the opposite?
