It’s worth noting, however, that this recommendation is best for overall health - and, while it’s a good target, even if you’re only getting one serving of fish per week, the brain may benefit anyway. The 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans advises that adults eat 8 ounces of seafood per week, equivalent to two 4-ounce servings of fish or seafood per week. When it comes to reaping the health benefits of fish oil, the evidence points to getting plenty of fish in your diet as the way to get the most benefit. Should I Be Taking Fish Oil Supplements, Getting Fish Oil From Fish, or Focusing on Omega-3s? “This is not an 'intelligent pill,' - you can’t take it and start remembering things,” he adds. Unfortunately, if you’re already at baseline, more is not going to be better. “Taking fish oil will not make you smarter or help you remember more if you already have an adequate intake ,” explains Hussein Yassine, MD, an endocrinology physician with Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles and associate professor of medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine But it’s not necessarily the case that higher amounts of fish oil (or upping fish oil consumption with supplements) necessarily boosts your cognitive abilities above and beyond the benefit you’ll get from simply getting enough fish oil from fish. The fish oil you get from eating healthy amounts of fish each week is good for your brain. When it comes to fish oil supplements, the research so far has not found a benefit of the supplements in terms of slowing cognitive decline or preventing Alzheimer’s disease.ĭoes That Mean Fish Oil Will Make Me Smarter? Another study published in JAMA in February 2016 found that moderate seafood consumption was associated with lower risk of having markers of Alzheimer’s disease than lower seafood consumption.įish, eaten at least one time per week, is an important component of the MIND diet, which has been shown to delay age-related cognitive decline, according to a September 2015 study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.īut it’s important to note that the research so far suggests eating fish supports memory and thinking centers of the brain, Agarwal says. That was the equivalent, researchers say, to having a brain that was four years younger. In a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in May 2018 that looked at data from 23,688 people from five pooled cohorts, older adults who consumed four or more servings of fish per week experienced less memory loss over four to nine years of follow-up compared with people who typically consume less than one serving per week. From meta-analyses and large cohorts of healthy adults, a higher fish intake is associated with a lower rate of memory decline over time, as well as a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” says Dr. “We have pretty good evidence on fish intake and its role in brain health. Yes, because the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish support good brain health, these nutrients also support the functions of the brain - which, of course, includes thinking and memory. When it comes to your cognitive capacity, omega-3s play an important role in brain structure and function, and as such, these nutrients play an important role in defraying cognitive impairments. (While fish oil contains two different types of omega-3s, not all omega-3s are fish oil.) You can consume fish oil via eating fresh fish or seafood or by taking a supplement. Fish oil contains certain omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), notes the National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Here’s why fish is thought to be so good for your brain. (There's more on how much fish you should be consuming below.) And the good news is that you may be able to reap these benefits with just one serving of fish per week, she says. “Overall, research shows that fish intake helps with cognitive health and helps prevent a decline in cognitive abilities,” says Puja Agarwal, PhD, a nutritional epidemiologist and assistant professor of internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. While the research is mixed on fish oil supplements, it’s clearer that it’s good for your brain when it comes to consuming fish oil via food (like putting salmon on your salad or grilling trout for dinner). Where’d you put those keys again? What did you come in this room for? And remember that thing you needed to, um, remember for work? If only taking something like a fish oil supplement could bust through all your brain snags.
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