Friday, December 2, 2011

A not so fishy story!


Firstly, a technical term that I had to look up: it's the term "Broiled"! For the ignorant, like myself, it's a form of cooking where you use the Grill in your oven, as opposed to using the barbeque, where the heat comes from the other side. Both barbequing and broiling would produce the same end results with the meat nicely cooked on the outside and the inner part remaining moist and tasty!

This relevant fact became apparent to me when reading why baked or "broiled" fish could help reduce the risks of Alzheimer's disease by preserving critical areas of grey matter within the brain. Dr Rajii, from the Pittsberg Medical Centre Mercy Hospital, reported his findings after following a group of people 65 years and older, over a 20 year period and measuring the size of their brains using imaging techniques. He found that in certain critical areas of the brain - the Hippocampus and the Frontal Lobes - the grey matter was better preserved in those who consumed between 1 to 4 servings of fish per week. These areas are considered important in Alzheimers disease as they are vital pathways for memory and cognition.

Why this happens is uncertain, but the theory goes that fish oils contain omega-3 fatty acids which are thought to reduce inflammation within the brain, and in Alzheimers, the inflammatory process plays a significan role. Last year Dr Rajii reported a similar finding when following up on the effects of regular exercise, but reported the opposite effect in obese people - where the relevant grey matter volume decreased.

Eating fish has been shown to help with cardiovascular disease, and now it's been shown to lessen the risks for Alzheimers disease: sounds like good news to me!

PS: for those of you who think it works with fried fish - sorry, but no. There were no measurable benefits from eating fried fish. Take it from an expert, broiling is the way to go!
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2 comments:

Mariodacatsmom said...

Very timely and useful information friend.

Anonymous said...

Good to know. Now.....have they come up with some food you can eat that reduces the Hippopotamus area of the brain (you know, that space that determines how chunky you look). I'd pay to find that information.