Another promising dietary supplement fails to deliver protection against a target disease, this time Alzheimer's. Image courtesy of outcast104.
Another promising dietary supplement fails to deliver protection against a target disease, this time Alzheimer's.
DHA (or docosahexaenoic acid for the geekier among you) is an omega-3 fatty acid that is abundant in the brain. Epidemiological studies have suggested that people who consume more DHA from fish have a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Further, DHA supplementation has improved markers of cognitive impairment in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.
Scientists speculated that DHA supplementation may be beneficial in treating cognitive decline because previous research has suggested that among all omega-3 fatty acids, DHA was the only one associated with a reduced incidence of impairment. Also, the other major omega-3 fatty acid found in fish, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), is not present in the human brain, whereas DHA is abundant.