Brain health is essential for quality of life, at any age. Recently, articles published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke and in the journal Nutrients reported associations between higher blood levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and significantly lower risks of stroke and dementia.^1,2

Commenting on their dementia results in Nutrients, authors Aleix Sala-Vila of the Fatty Acid Research Institute and colleagues concluded, “This research provides evidence for the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in brain health and contributes to better defining populations who might obtain the greatest cognitive benefits in omega-3-based interventions.”

In Stroke, 29 studies that included a total of 183,291 men and women were analyzed. Blood polyunsaturated fatty acid levels were measured at the beginning of the studies and cerebrovascular disease events were ascertained during a median follow-up of 14.3 years.

Researchers analyzed the associations between the intake of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA, DHA and DPA) and total strokes, ischemic strokes and hemorrhagic strokes. They found that subjects in the top 20% of EPA or EPA plus DHA levels, compared with the lowest, had a 17% lower risk of all types of stroke and an 18% lower risk of ischemic stroke.

The study published in Nutrients examined the association between plasma omega-3 fatty acids and the risk of dementia among 267,312 participants in the UK Biobank Study who were aged 40 to 69 years upon enrollment from 2006 to 2010. Participants with a total of omega-3 fatty acid levels in the top 20%, compared to those in the lowest, had a 13% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and a 21% lower risk for all-cause dementia.