Eating Seafood May Help Lower the Risk of Dementia

[Read the Article]

A new study examined the brains of deceased individuals and found that moderate seafood consumption correlated with lesser Alzheimer disease.

Researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago enrolled older people living in public housing and retirement communities in an ongoing study of memory and aging. Participants had normal memory function when they entered the study and were asked to keep track of their diet using a detailed questionnaire. The participants also agreed to brain donation after they died, providing researchers a total of 286 brains to examine.

They found that participants who reported consuming seafood at least once a week had decreased occurrence of the plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer disease. Increased seafood consumption was associated with increased brain mercury levels, but the mercury did not appear to have an impact on brain health.

[Watch more videos of The JAMA Report]