Preventing brain aging

EATING fish at least once a week slows the toll aging takes on the brain, a study concluded. Omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish have been shown to boost brain functioning as well as cutting the risk of stroke, and eating fish regularly appears to protect the brain as people age, the six-year study of Chicago residents said. "The rate of ( mental ) decline was reduced by 10 per cent to 13 per cent per year among persons who consumed one or more fish meals per week compared with those with less than weekly consumption," wrote Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago. "The rate reduction is the equivalent of being three to four years younger in age," she added in the report published online by the Archives of Neurology. The protective effect from eating fish was evident even after researchers adjusted for consumption of fruits and vegetables