Eating Fish Linked to Brain Health: In The News

Eating More Fish Linked to Benefits for the Brain

People who eat higher amounts of fish have lower vascular brain disease, according to a study published in Neurology.* Vascular brain disease, which involves damage to the brain’s blood vessels, increases the risk of vascular dementia and stroke.

Researchers analyzed MRI brain scans of 1,623 people 65 and over who had no history of stroke, cardiovascular disease, or dementia. The individuals also filled out dietary questionnaires.

Participants who ate the most fish had fewer signs of blood vessel disease in their brains compared to those who ate it less frequently.

Editor’s Note: This association was strongest in people ages 65-69, compared to older individuals in the study.

* Neurology. 2021 Nov 30;97(22).

Diabetes Screening Age Lowered from 40 to 35 for Overweight and Obese People

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has lowered the age at which overweight and obese people should begin screening for diabetes from 40 to 35, a recommendation statement in JAMA urged.*

According to the Task Force, there is a spike in the prevalence of both diabetes and prediabetes around age 35.

Lowering the screening age from 40 to 35 could help identify people with prediabetes and give them time to prevent full-blown diabetes by adopting a healthier diet, exercising more, and losing weight, the Task Force stated.

Editor’s Note: “Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure and new cases of blindness among adults in the U.S.,” the statement noted.

* JAMA, 2021;326(8):736-743.

Curcumin for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who received curcumin experienced improvements, compared with those getting a placebo, a meta-analysis published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found.*

Pooled analysis of the participants’ data revealed an increase in clinical remission for those taking curcumin, compared to controls. This remained significant among patients aged 40 years and older. In two studies that reported changes in clinical symptoms, improvement was also observed in curcumin-treated participants.

Editor’s Note: Additionally, among the six studies in which participants underwent endoscopy, endoscopic remission in participants treated with curcumin significantly increased among those 40 years of age and older.

* Complement Ther Med. 2021 Oct 29;63:102787.

Higher Vitamin D Pre-Op Levels Aid Recovery from Hip-Fracture Surgery

A study reported in the Journal of Bone Metabolism revealed an association between deficient vitamin D levels and diminished functional recovery with prolonged hospitalization among men and women who underwent surgery for hip fracture.*

The study included 1,029 individuals aged 65 years or older with a hip fracture that required surgery. Measurement of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels upon hospital admission revealed vitamin D deficiency among 702 patients.

The average length of hospitalization was 27.7 days among patients with vitamin D deficiency compared to 20.9 days among those whose levels were considered sufficient.

Vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with:

• 1.52 times greater odds of developing postoperative delirium, and
• 2.41 times greater odds of developing a blood clot.

Editor’s Note: Patients with vitamin D deficiency were also found to have greater odds of postoperative pneumonia compared to those who had sufficient levels.

* J Bone Metab. 2021 Nov;28(4):333-338.

Increased Ergothioneine May Prevent Neurodegeneration

Low levels of the amino acid ergothioneine have been associated with cognitive decline and could serve as an early warning sign of cognitive impairment, according to research published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.*

Results of the 496-participant study showed that plasma ergothioneine levels were lowest in dementia patients, and only intermediate levels were found in people with cognitive impairment.

In multivariate analyses, lower levels of ergothioneine were significantly associated with dementia and cognitive impairment.

Editor’s Note: Additionally, researchers noted that lower ergothioneine levels “were also associated with white matter hyperintensities and brain atrophy markers (reduced global cortical thickness and hippocampal volumes).”

* Free Radic Biol Med. 2021 Dec;177: 201-211.