Vascular dementia is a type of cognition impairment caused by problems with the supply of blood to the brain. There are a number of conditions that can increase or cause vascular dementia including high blood pressure. Omega-3 fish oil supplementation benefits high blood pressure and may also benefit vascular dementia. The Alzheimer's Society reports that the primary cause of vascular dementia is stroke while the second main cause is small vessel disease. Patients are advised to treat these disorders by treating the underlying conditions such as high blood pressure.
High Blood Pressure and Vascular Dementia
The Mayo Clinic reports that high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a leading cause of vascular dementia and that it can start doing its damage decades before dementia manifests. A February 2011 news release published on the Drug Information Online website discusses a study proving the point. Middle-aged men and women with hypertension underwent periodic cognitive tests during a 10-year period. The average age was 55 years among 4,827 participants. The study found that people with hypertension had a faster rate of overall cognitive decline.
Hypertension and Dementia Arrested
The Blood Pressure Association agrees hypertension is a leading cause of vascular dementia because it's the leading cause of vascular brain damage. Hypertension causes stroke, which in turn damages the brain. This represents a cycle of devastating disease that can be arrested through healthy lifestyle choices. Chief among those choices is a healthy diet, which the American Heart Association recommends to include at least two oily fish servings per week. The AHA also recommends that those looking to reduce hypertension should consult their doctors for counsel on how much omega-3 they should ingest as a supplement.
More Fish Equals Less Dementia
One of the largest studies to look at the connection between a diet rich in omega-3s and reduced risk of dementia was published in the August 2009 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." The study, which included 15,000 people aged 65 and older in the Dominican Republic, Peru, Cuba, India, Venezuela, Mexico, and China, reported that people who ate fish nearly every day were 20 percent less likely to develop dementia than those who ate fish just a few days a week.
DHA Omega-3 Most Important
A group of researchers reporting in the January 2010 issue of "Womens Health" identified DHA or docosahexaenoic acid as the most important omega-3 fatty acid in relation to preventing dementia. The researchers report that DHA composes 60 percent of the fatty acids found in neuronal cell membranes and that 30 to 40 percent of the gray matter making up the cortex is composed of DHA. In a review of the existent studies examining omega-3s in preventing vascular dementia, the authors report that positive effects have been demonstrated by supplementing in older people, but more studies are needed.
References
- Alzheimer's Society: What is Vascular Dementia?
- Mayo Clinic: High Blood Pressure - Hypertension
- Drug Information Online: High Blood Pressure Tied to Memory Problems
- Blood Pressure Association: Vascular Dementia and High Blood Pressure
- American Heart Association: Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Dietary Fish and Meat Intake and Dementia in Latin America, China, and India; Emiliano Albanese et al., August 2009
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