A new U.S. study on Wednesday suggested that eating baked or broiled fish may help fight the brain shrinkage and cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center tracked fish consumption and measured brain volume and memory function in 260 cognitively normal adults over 10 years. In the end, study participants who ate more fish had bigger brain areas—particularly the hippocampus, which is known to shrink in Alzheimer's—and better memory than their fish-declining counterparts. “We found higher levels of working memory in people who ate baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis, even when accounting for other factors, such as education, age, gender and physical activity,” Dr. Cyrus Raji, the lead author of the study, said in a statement. Raji presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Other research has hinted at fish's brain-boosting effects. A 2010 study published in Archives of Neurology found that people who ate a Mediterranean diet high in fish, fruits, and vegetables were 38 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease over the next four years.
