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Eating tuna and other fatty fish may help prevent memory loss in addition to reducing the risk of stroke, Finnish researchers said on Monday.
People who ate baked or broiled — but not fried — fish high in omega-3 fatty acids have been found to be less likely to have “silent” brain lesions that can cause memory loss and dementia and are linked to a higher risk of stroke, said Jyrki Virtanen of the University of Kuopio in Finland.
“Previous findings have shown that fish and fish oil can help prevent stroke, but this is one of the only studies that looks at fish’s effect on silent brain (lesions) in healthy, older people,,” Virtanen, who led the study, said in a statement.
Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and in other foods such as walnuts. They have been shown to provide an anti-inflammatory effect and have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease.
The Finnish team studied 3,660 people aged 65 and older who underwent brains scans five years apart to detect the silent brain lesions, or infarcts, found in about 20 percent of otherwise healthy elderly people
The researchers found that men and women who ate omega-3-rich fish three times or more per week had a nearly 26 percent lower risk of having silent brain lesions.
Eating just one serving per week led to a 13 percent reduced risk, compared to people whose diets did not include this type of fish, the researchers reported in the journal Neurology.
Fried fish for some reason did not appear to have the same benefits, the researchers added.
“While eating tuna and other types of fish seems to help protect against memory loss and stroke, these results were not found in people who regularly ate fried fish,” Virtanen said.
芬兰研究人员周一说，食用金枪鱼和其它含脂肪的鱼类，除了减少中风的风险之外，还可能有助于防止记忆力丧失。
已经发现，食用烘烤的或烧烤的——但是不是油炸的——高含欧米伽-3 脂肪酸的鱼的人，不太可能发生“沉默”脑病变。这种病变可能导致记忆丧失和痴呆症，并且与较高的中风风险相关联，芬兰库奥皮奥大学的 Jyrki Virtanen 说。
“先前的调查结果显示，鱼和鱼油可以帮助防止中风，但是，这是在健康的老年人中察看鱼类对沉默脑（病变）影响的一项唯一的研究，”领导这项研究的 Virtanen 在一份声明中说。
欧米伽-3 脂肪酸也在鲑鱼、鲭鱼、鲱鱼、沙丁鱼以及其它的食物如核桃中发现。已经证明它们提供消炎作用，并且与较低的心脏病风险相关联。
芬兰的小组研究了 3,660 个 65 岁和 65 岁以上的老人，他们在五年中分别经历了大脑扫描，以检测沉默脑病变或者梗塞。在这些人之中，发现了大约 20％ 以内别样健康的老人。
研究人员发现，每周食用富含欧米伽-3 的鱼类多达三倍或三倍以上的男人和女人，患沉默脑病变的风险降低近 26％。
研究人员在 神经病学 杂志中报道说，每周只吃一种鱼类的人，相比那些在他们的饮食中不包括这种鱼类的人，导致百分之 13 的风险降低。
研究人员补充说，出于某种原因，油炸鱼似乎没有同样的好处。
“虽然食用金枪鱼和其它的鱼类表现出有助于防止记忆力丧失和中风，但是在经常吃油炸鱼的人们之中没有发现这样的结果，”Virtanen 说。
