Fishing for a healthy brain

Fish lead lives that, to the human eye, are generally less than glamorous. A fishy existence appears to consist of lots of movement, usually either towards food or away from something that thinks you are food. Then there’s the whole issue of needing to breathe the same substance into which you deposit your bodily waste. Yes, while no doubt perfectly fulfilling to a fish, a fish’s lot is not filled with things to excite the average human aspiration. You just don’t hear people saying, “Ooooh, I’d love to be a mullet”, in the same way that they will say, “Gosh I’d like to be an eagle” (usually then confiding that they probably were an eagle, or at least a goshawk, in a previous life). Yet that lack of excitement disappears when fish makes its way out of the ocean or stream and onto our tables because we know that fish is a wonderful food for human beings. Now a new study has added to that knowledge by showing that fish eating can help your brain in many ways, even boosting the size of it, as you age.

The study involved data gathered on “cognitively normal” people (ie they could think straight) aged 65 or over who were followed for a period of 10 years. The people were given food questionnaires and also had brain scans taken throughout the study.

The results showed that people who ate either baked or steamed fish once a week had larger grey matter areas in the parts of the brain involved in memory and cognition. This did not hold true for people who ate fried fish.

The difference between baking and steaming as opposed to frying would presumably be because the high heat of frying breaks down the omega-3 fats in fish, and the omega-3 fats are known to be good for your brain. However, the researchers did not find any relationship between omega-3 levels in the body and brain changes. So it would seem that something else about your steamed and baked fish is doing good things for your brain.

Dare we say then, that fish is a fantastic brain food…or is that just gill-ding the lily?