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Taking a beloved supplement for cognitive health may no longer be a no-brainer.
About 19 million American adults — 1 in 5 over age 60 — consume fish oil because they’ve been told it will benefit their brain, heart and chronic inflammation.
It’s among the top five most popular supplements in the US, while the global fish oil market is worth a whopping $3.4 billion.
But it’s probably time to stop taking the bait. A shocking new study continues to cast doubt on the slippery claims of fish oil, painting the pale-yellow softgels as little more than snake oil.
“We all wish there was a silver bullet for preventing Alzheimer’s, but our findings showed that fish oil supplements do not appear to protect brain health,” said Dr. Hussein Naji Yassine, director of the University of Southern California Center for Personalized Brain Health and lead study investigator.
How did so many people fall for this flimflam, hook, line and stinker? As we age, we’re constantly searching for better and easier ways to prevent the cognitive decline that affects about 1 in 9 Americans.
The thought is that folks who eat a lot of fish are healthy, so a concentrated dose of marine life must be good for us too. It’s an idea that stretches back to antiquity and gained traction in Boomer homes.
Fish oil is a popular source of omega-3s, fatty acids like EPA and DHA that have been shown to support cell function, eye, heart and joint health.
“While omega-3s play an important role in forming brain cell connections needed for cognition, our results do not support fish oil supplements as a preventive measure against Alzheimer’s,” Yassine said.
What researchers found
USC researchers had a group of 365 fish-averse adults, 55 to 80 years old and at increased risk for Alzheimer’s, take fish oil daily to see if it would help them avoid cognitive decline over the course of two years.
The supplement did get into their central nervous system — but it didn’t actually help participants perform better on cognitive tests or slow the shrinkage of a key component of their brain that’s tasked with forming and storing memories.
Specifically, researchers assessed participants’ cognitive skills like memory, attention and language but found no significant difference in performance between those taking fish oil and those on a placebo pill.
And the hippocampus, a region critical for memory, is one of the first places to lose tissue as Alzheimer’s develops — but there was no difference in brain tissue loss between the two groups.
Prior studies found that fish oil is not helpful for longevity or heart health and may actually increase the risk of irregular heart rhythm and stroke and undermine healing after a brain injury.
More tangible ways to fight Alzheimer’s
Our bodies don’t make omega-3s, so we have to get them through food or dietary supplements.
The authors of the new fish oil study, published in eBioMedicine, suggest better avenues than dropping $25 at your local pharmacy.
“Living a healthy lifestyle is the brain’s equivalent of getting regular car maintenance and high-quality oil changes,” Yassine said.
“The brain is more likely to lose greater function if health issues in other parts of the body go unaddressed, in the same way that car engines stop working if regular maintenance is skipped.”
Consider getting enough exercise, controlling blood pressure and cognitive training.
Just walking 3,800 steps a day can lower the risk of dementia by 25%. And controlling blood pressure can add 13 dementia-free years to a person’s life.
And rather than taking your fish in a pill, try eating the real thing as part of a Mediterranean-style diet that emphasizes leafy vegetables, berries, nuts and olive oil, alongside fish.