Fish Once a Week Boosts Brain: Study

In the latest study to confirm that fish is brain food, Pitt researchers have found eating baked or broiled fish once a week can keep you mentally sharp as you grow older, reducing the risk of developing dementia and other mental health disorders.

The findings, reported by scientists with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, add to growing evidence that lifestyle factors contribute to brain health later in life.

"Our study shows that people who ate a diet that included baked or broiled, but not fried, fish have larger brain volumes in regions associated with memory and cognition," said James T. Becker, a professor of psychiatry at Pitt. "We did not find a relationship between omega-3 levels and these brain changes, which surprised us a little. It led us to conclude that we were tapping into a more general set of lifestyle factors that were affecting brain health of which diet is just one part."

More