Fish oil can protect the brain from damage caused by air pollution

reference

Chen C., Xun P., Kaufman JD, et al. Erythrocyte omega-3 Index, fine dust pollution in the area and brain age. neurology . 2020; 95 (8): E995-E1007.

objective

to determine whether omega-3 fatty acid levels are the potential neurotoxic effects of exposure to particles with diameters of less than 2.5 µm (pm 2.5 ) on normal brain volumes in dementia-free women

draft

observation study

participant

In this observation study, a total of 1,315 women (at the age of 65 to 80; average age 70 years at the start of the course) who participated in the Whims-Mri study (Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study-Magnetic Resonance Imaging) were free of dementia between 1996 and 1999. subjected. This cohort was a sub-group of 7,427 people who participated in the clinical studies of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI-CT) for postmenopausal hormone therapy.

exposure measures

The investigators calculated average PM 2.5 Exposition for each study participant based on his place of residence in the 3 years before his MRI. They determined the absorption of long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (LCN3PUFAS) and the fish consumption with the help of semi-quantitative questionnaires for food frequency and then calculated the average amount of fish that every woman consumes every week, including grilled or baked fish, tuna in doses and tuna salad, tuna run and not fried Shellfish. The investigators did not take a fried fish with them, since examinations have shown that frying to frying omega-3 fatty acids.

The investigators measure the starting values ​​of the Omega-3-Pufa in the red blood cells (RBCS) of the participants and compared them with PM 2.5 Exposition and brain volumes, as calculated from the MRTS.

target parameter

The researchers calculated joint associations of basic lines-omega-3-pufas in red blood cells and pm 2.5 Exposure with brain volumes in generalized linear models.

important knowledge

After cleaning up for potential confounders, women had significantly larger volumes in white substance and hippocampus in their brains in this cohort who had higher values ​​of RBC LCN3PUFAS. For each interquartile increment (2.02 %) of the Omega-3 index, the average volume was 5.03 cm ( p <0.01) larger in the white substance and 0.08 cm ^{3 ( p = 0.03) larger in the hippocamp. The associations with erythrocytes, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenic acid (EPA) mirrors were similar. Higher LCN3PUFA mirrors weaken the inverse associations between PM from 2.5 Exposition and volumes of white substance throughout the brain and in multimodal association areas (frontal, parietal and temporal; all p for interaction <0.05), while the associations were not modified with other brain regions. Consistent results were found for a linear connection between the food intake of LCN3PUFAS and not fried fish.}

These results indicate that in older women the advantages of omega-3-pufas for brain age can include protection against the adverse effects of air pollution on the volume of the white substance.

clinical implications

In recent years we have observed the constant accumulation of evidence that indicates an exposure to air pollutants, especially the super small fine dust, 2.5 2.5 and reduced brain volume in older women, about which the authors of the current study reported in 2015.

pn 2.5 4.5 It was also reported that fish oils through a number of environmental toxins such as lead, organic solvents and Reduce mercury. 6.7

In this report, Chen et al. A simpler way of expressing this is that the consumption of fish seems to protect against the brain damage caused by PM 2.5 Even what many call moderate fish consumption seems to be submitted to counteract the damage associated with this air pollution: the omega-3 fatty acids in just 1 to 2 portions of fish per week were sufficient to achieve considerable benefits.

From 2009 to 2016, the fine dust content in the US air fell by about 25 %. According to a working paper of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) from 2019, this trend suddenly shifted in 2016, and PM 2.5 The level began to rise and rose by 5.5 %by 2018. A number of factors contributed to this increase, including the increase in car driving, the burning of natural gas and forest fires. The researchers also suggest that a contributor had reduced the enforcement of the Clean Air Act from 2009 to 2016 and until 2018. This law and its updates were responsible for the strict air pollution standards that were set for power plants, factories, vehicles, etc. Other sources of pollution. The enforcement of these laws had significantly improved the air quality in the whole country. An estimate of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2011 showed that these regulations would prevent 230,000 early deaths by 2020. tied together. These calculations do not take into account the risks of diseases that have recently been associated with air quality, such as the increased risk of brain volume effects, which in the study by Chen et al. is described.