According to Finnish researchers, risk of dementia as well as of stroke considerably decrease by eating tuna and other fatty fish.

The lead author of the study, Jyrki Virtanen of the University of Kuopio in Finland told that ‘silent’ brain lesions that often become the cause of memory loss and dementia occurred less in those people who ate baked or broiled fish high in omega-3 fatty acids.

“The results of some previous studies have shown that fish and fish oil is helpful to avoid stroke, but this is the first study of its kind that examines the effects of fish on brain lesions in older people,” Virtanen further added.

Fish like salmon, mackerel sardines, herring and other foods like walnuts are rich with omega-3 fatty acids. These foods have also shown an anti-inflammatory effect and related to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

In the study, the Finnish researchers examined the cases of those 3,660 people who aged 65 and older and went through brains scans five years. The researchers found that the people who consume omega-3-rich fish more than two times a week had almost 26 percent lower risk of silent brain lesions.

While people who consume one serving per week were found with 13 percent reduced risk than those who didn’t include such sort of fish in their diets. The study has been published in the journal Neurology.

However, the researchers added that fried fish, in some people, did not appear to have the same benefits.

A optimal improvement in dementia symptoms has been linked with the use of bright light in daytime, for the improvement of their circadian rhythms, according to a study released on June 10, 2008 in JAMA. More over, the melatonin is also helpful in improving sleep.

Dementia is a costant decline in cognitive ability with the passage of time, and usually elderly patients suffer from this condition. These symptoms can have many contributing factors, according to the authors: “In elderly patients with dementia, cognitive decline is frequently increase by disturbances of mood, behavior, sleep, and activities of daily routine life, which enhance caregiver burden and the risk of institutionalization.”

Several biological processes in many organisms recur within 24 hours that is referred as a circadian rhythm. Although this rhythm is internal but it can be affected by various factors including the presence or absense of daylight. In humans, melatonin levels considered to be the yard stick in measuring the circadian cycle, and sometimes melatonin is used to maintain a regular rhythm. Abnormalities of imbalanced rhythms are quite familiar which include jet lag and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD.)

According to the authors, the circadian rhythm can also be

linked with the symptoms of dementia in the elderly stage: “The circadian timing system is extremely sensitive to environmental light and the melatonin hormone may not function properly in the absence of their synchronizing effects. In elderly patients with dementia, synchronization may be abolished if light exposure and melatonin production is reduced from certain level.” …Click here to read more