Fish intake helps preserve cognitive function in older adults

A recent study recommends the consumption of fish among older adults to help maintain their cognitive function.

This benefit is potentially driven by the “biomolecular actions of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) that increase neuronal membrane fluidity, have antioxidation activity, and restore cell damage,” according to the investigators.

This cross-sectional study used data from the NHANES 2011‒2014 and assessed cognitive scores of immediate recall, delayed recall, and executive function in 3,123 adults aged ≥60 years.

The investigators conducted multivariate linear regressions and mixture models using the quantile-based g-computation method to explore the relationships between monthly fish intake or dietary omega-3 PUFAs and blood concentrations of lead, cadmium, selenium, and methyl mercury on cognitive scores.

Fish intake showed significant and positive correlations with all three cognitive scores, while dietary omega-3 PUFAs only significantly correlated with the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) scores.

In mixture analysis, both fish consumption (β, 0.88, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.48‒1.29) and dietary omega-3 PUFAs (β, 0.41, 95 percent CI, 0.03‒0.78) significantly correlated with DSST scores, with positive component weights for fish intake, dietary omega-3 PUFAs, and blood selenium and negative component weight for blood cadmium concentrations.

“The combination of selenium and fish consumption or ω-3 PUFAs was associated with reduced decline in cognitive scores and less negative associations from exposures to lead, cadmium, and mercury compounds,” the investigators said.