Sunday 3 July 2022

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect and Improve Cognitive Functions

By Kyle J. Norton

The central nervous system (CNS) is a complex network that controls most functions of the body and mind consisting of two parts, the brain, and the spinal cord.

Cognition is the process of the brain functioning associated with the attention of working memory, producing and comprehending language, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision making.

On the other hand, cognitive impairment, depending on the severity of the condition, the infected person has trouble remembering, learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions that affect the quality of their everyday life.

Acute cognitive impairment is a short-term health problem caused by drug toxicity and withdrawal, electrolyte disturbance, lack of drugs, liver disease, infection, reduced sensor input, intracranial urinary retention/fecal impaction, or myocardial/metabolic/pulmonary. An acute cognitive deficit may be recovered if the cause is found.

Chronic cognitive impairment is a permanent medical condition caused by the gradual or permanent loss of neurons, leading to problems with language, ideomotor and constructive praxis, visual gnosis, spatial attention, learning abilities, and executive functions.

In the elderly, most cases of cognitive impairment are associated with neurodegenerative diseases and long-term use of medication, including Alzheimer's disease.

However, malnutrition, hormone imbalance such as thyroid hormone, mental illness, and substance abuse, particularly, in brain damage or injury are some of the major and prevalent risk factors that can cause the early onset of cognitive impairment.

There is no single cause of chronic cognitive impairment. An increase in age, genetic preposition, and certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, high blood cholesterol, pressure, being obese, and lack of exercise are some prevalent factors found in patients with chronic cognitive deficits.

Omega-3 fatty acids are phytochemicals in the class of lipids, found abundantly in deepsea fisk, dark-green leafy vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, etc.

The three main components of Omega-3 fatty acids are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

On finding a potential phytochemical for the protection of cognitive functioning, researchers examined the effect of ω3 PUFA on an animal model that exhibits severe cognitive impairments (learning, memory).

The study included adult male mouse lemurs fed for 5 months on a control diet or on a diet supplemented with long-chain ω3 PUFA (n = 6 per group).

In vivo, ω3 PUFA supplementation lowered the anxiety in tested mice compared to control.

In cognitive parameters assays, ω3-supplementation mouses showed a better performance in a reference spatial memory task (80% of successful trials vs 35% in controls, p<0.05) and reduced spontaneous locomotor activity by 31%.

Importantly, chronic dietary ω3 PUFA supplementation positively impacts anxiety and cognitive performances in the adult mouse lemur.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "The supplementation of human food with ω3 fatty acids may represent a valuable dietary strategy to improve behavioral and cognitive functions".

Taken altogether, Omega-3 fatty acids may be considered a functional supplement for the prevention and treatment of cognitive functions, pending the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose and acute liver toxicity.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil lower anxiety, improve cognitive functions and reduce spontaneous locomotor activity in a non-human primate by Vinot N1, Jouin M, Lhomme-Duchadeuil A, Guesnet P, Alessandri JM, Aujard F, Pifferi F. (PubMed)

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