Ah, what did you say–Alsheimer’s or is that Alzheimer’s!
Well, Omegas, the "good oils" (as long as your source, be it fish, is mercury-free). Also that your brain does not contain aluminum, which it probably does if you have cooked in aluminum pots or eaten out of some types of cans or drinks, or have had any kind of vaccine which contains aluminium and mercury too.
Sources of Omega oils can be found in salmon, cod liver oil, walnuts & flax seed, so if you are not sure of the purity of your fish, the nuts & seeds will be as good.
There is good evidence to suggest that thesw good oils help protect the brain from degenerative diseases as well as protecting the the eye fromage-related macular degeneration, with new research showing evidence of the compounds’ impact on cardiovascular health.
Scientists from Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention at the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans have found that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, or supplements called DHA and EPA, improve electrical activity and platelet stabilization of the cardiovascular system. They may also reduce hypertension, thus further lowering the odds of suffering a stroke, the study has found.
Lead researcher Carl Lavie says the scientific community now has "tremendous and compelling" evidence that omega-3 oils have a range of benefits and potential applications in preventive cardiology. The study furthermore established that heart attack survivors may be able to reduce their risk of a fatal episode by as much as 30 percent by consuming oily fish or taking supplements containing the fatty acids, something which Lavie sees as a "safe and relatively inexpensive therapy."
The American Heart Association recommends 500 miligrams of DHA and EPA per day.
Seniors may be interested in a new study which suggests the onset of the much-feared, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may be delayed or prevented by supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids. AMD occurs when blood vessels in the center of the retina break down, and is a leading cause of blindness in Americans 60 years of age and older. According to the National Institutes of Health, it affects approximately 10 percent of people between the ages of 66 to 74, making it difficult for them to read or even recognize faces.
Scientists from the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, fed mice a diet with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and noted a slower lesion progression as well as improvement in some lesions. They say the protective effect may have stemmed from the fact that after the supplementation, the animals also had lower levels of inflammatory molecules and higher levels of anti-inflammatory molecules. The results "further provide the scientific basis for the application of omega-3 fatty acids and their biologically active derivatives in the prevention and treatment of AMD," the researchers concluded in an article published in August, 2009, in the American Journal of Pathology
What can high-omega-3 foods do for you?
- Reduce inflammation throughout your body
- Keep your blood from clotting excessively
- Maintain the fluidity of your cell membranes
- Lower the amount of lipids (fats such as cholesterol and triglycerides) circulating in the bloodstream
- Decrease platelet aggregation, preventing excessive blood clotting
- Inhibit thickening of the arteries by decreasing endothelial cells’ production of a platelet-derived growth factor (the lining of the arteries is composed of endothelial cells)
- Increase the activity of another chemical derived from endothelial cells (endothelium-derived nitric oxide), which causes arteries to relax and dilate
- Reduce the production of messenger chemicals called cytokines, which are involved in the inflammatory response associated with atherosclerosis
- Reduce the risk of becoming obese and improve the body’s ability to respond to insulin by stimulating the secretion of leptin, a hormone that helps regulate food intake, body weight and metabolism, and is expressed primarily by adipocytes (fat cells)
- Help prevent cancer cell growth
What conditions or symptoms indicate a need for more high-omega-3 foods?
- Depression
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Fatigue
- Dry, itchy skin
- Brittle hair and nails
- Inability to concentrate
- Joint pain
Salmon, cod liver oil, flax seeds and walnuts are excellent food sources of omega-3 fatty acids.
Research indicates that omega-3’s may be better-absorbed from food than supplements. Norwegian researchers compared 71 volunteers’ absorption of omega-3s (EPA and DHA) from salmon, smoked salmon, cod (14 ounces of fish per week) or cod liver oil (3 teaspoons per day). Cooked salmon provided 1.2 grams of omega-3s daily, while cod liver oil provided more than twice as much: 3 grams of omega-3s per day. Despite the fact that the salmon group got less than half the amount of omega-3’s as the cod liver oil group, blood levels of omega-3’s increased quite a bit more in those eating salmon than those taking cod liver oil. After 8 weeks, EPA levels had risen 129% and DHA rose 45% in those eating cooked salmon compared to 106% and 25%, respectively, in those taking cod liver oil. In the group eating smoked salmon, blood levels of omega-3s rose about one-third less than in the salmon group. In those eating cod, the rise in omega-3s was very small.
Concurrent with the rise in omega-3s in those eating salmon, a drop was seen in blood levels of a number of pro-inflammatory chemicals (TNFalpha, IL-8, leukotriene B4, and thromboxane B2). Researchers think omega-3s may be better absorbed from fish because fish contains these fats in the form of triglycerides, while the omega-3s in almost all refined fish oils are in the ethyl ester form. Once absorbed, omega-3s are converted by the body from their triglyceride to ester forms as needed. Lipids. 2006 Dec; 41(12):1109-14.
So yes, it can help but a lot of evidence shows that aluminium in the brain can also be a real factor in developing Alzheimers.
