New research links eating fatty fish, such as salmon, to a reduction in 'silent' or asymptomatic stroke rates. For the study, scientists at Harvard and in Finland looked at brain scans, taken five years apart, from over 2,000 age 65 years and older volunteers. The findings from these scans combined with diet information produced striking results, including:
• Compared to people who did not eat fish regularly, the brain scans of participants who ate broiled or baked tuna or other fatty fish three times per week or more were 26 percent less likely to show brain lesions.
• Eating just one serving of fatty fish per week cut the rate of scan-detected brain lesions by 13 percent.
• People who ate fatty fish regularly had healthy white matter in their brains, and no signs of the kinds of white matter associated with brain atrophy.
One of the researchers, Dr. Virtanen, noted that "More research is needed as to why these types of fish may have protective effects, but the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA would seem to have a major role."
While one in seven men and one in six women aged 65 and older will suffer a diagnosed stroke, the report states that the annual number of silent strokes in America is about 30 times higher than the incidence of diagnosed strokes.
