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.

芬蘭研究人員周一說，食用金槍魚和其它含脂肪的魚類，除了減少中風的風險之外，還可能有助于防止記憶力喪失。

已經發現，食用烘烤的或燒烤的——但是不是油炸的——高含歐米伽-3 脂肪酸的魚的人，不太可能發生“沉默”腦病變。這種病變可能導致記憶喪失和癡呆癥，并且與較高的中風風險相關聯，芬蘭庫奧皮奧大學的  Jyrki Virtanen 說。

“先前的調查結果顯示，魚和魚油可以幫助防止中風，但是，這是在健康的老年人中察看魚類對沉默腦（病變）影響的一項唯一的研究，”領導這項研究的 Virtanen 在一份聲明中說。

歐米伽-3 脂肪酸也在鮭魚、鯖魚、鯡魚、沙丁魚以及其它的食物如核桃中發現。已經證明它們提供消炎作用，并且與較低的心臟病風險相關聯。

芬蘭的小組研究了 3,660 個 65 歲和 65 歲以上的老人，他們在五年中分別經歷了大腦掃描，以檢測沉默腦病變或者梗塞。在這些人之中，發現了大約 20％ 以內別樣健康的老人。

研究人員發現，每周食用富含歐米伽-3 的魚類多達三倍或三倍以上的男人和女人，患沉默腦病變的風險降低近 26％。

研究人員在 神經病學 雜志中報道說，每周只吃一種魚類的人，相比那些在他們的飲食中不包括這種魚類的人，導致百分之 13 的風險降低。

研究人員補充說，出于某種原因，油炸魚似乎沒有同樣的好處。

“雖然食用金槍魚和其它的魚類表現出有助于防止記憶力喪失和中風，但是在經常吃油炸魚的人們之中沒有發現這樣的結果，”Virtanen 說。