Skip to content

Green Living

Of fish and Alzheimer's

by Ines Morales 01 Dec 2011
Of fish and Alzheimer's

Illustration of a brain via Shutterstock

In her deep indigenous wisdom, my grandmother once taught the children in her care that food and health are inextricably linked. For instance, that certain kinds of soup are good for certain illnesses. Or the right kind of food for each particular purpose - to make you stronger when you need it, to keep this or that disease at bay. For a long time, science scoffed at the knowledge of native people, but now an increasing number of studies are showing that my grandmother and others like her were right.

Take, for example, a new piece of medical research carried out by several scientists and presented at the Radiological Society of North America. According to these researchers' findings, fish can save you from mild cognitive impairment - often a precursor to Alzheimer's disease - and Alzheimer's itself. If you eat it baked or broiled, and at least once a week, it makes the gray matter in your brain healthier by increasing the size and strength of its neurons. This is good because gray matter volume is directly linked to memory and cognitive skills. The more gray matter in your brain, the more resistance it can put up against Alzheimer's and other such diseases.

Alzheimer's disease and fish

Fish Fillet via Shutterstock

Another advantage of the broiled/baked fish strategy is that it can make us smarter. People with higher volumes of gray matter in their brain, the study suggests, have better working memories and are more capable of processing information. Eating fish is by no means the universal panacea for all brain-related afflictions, but combining the physiological boost it gives us with the right kinds of physical and mental activity can go a long way toward improving the health and performance of our brains.

For the millions of people worldwide at risk of Alzheimer's disease, this new research is very good news - as for the many more millions of other people trying to combat a wide host of brain afflictions. A word of caution, however: for some reason the scientists haven't been able to figure out, this method doesn't work when you fry the fish. So, for those of us who like our food greasy, we might want to switch to the leaner versions instead.

Any views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author

href="../../../index.html">Homepage

Trending Eco-Friendly Clothing

Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Love My Planet women's eco-friendly relaxed fit hoodieSize Guide Centimeters 8 10 12 14 16 18 Bust 84 88 92 97 103 108 Waist 66 70 75 80 85 91 Hips 91 95 99 104 109 116 Bust: Measure around the fullest part of...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Penguins Hate Push-Ups men's eco-friendly pullover HoodieSize Guide Centimeters XS S M L XL XXL Height 171 175 179 183 189 195 Chest 86 93 99 104 116 129 Waist 71 76 81 89 99 112 Chest: Measure all round your chest just below...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Lightning Bolt Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Notify me