Blackmores Institute

The study found that self-reported omega-3 supplement use moderated the relationship between ageing and middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv) during exercise in cognitively normal older adults.“These results suggest that omega-3 supplement use might improve cerebral blood flow (CBF) during physiological challenges such as exercise. This may be important for maintaining adequate delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain over time, which could contribute to the prevention of cognitive decline,” the researchers explained.“Specifically, there was a decline in exercising MCAv (a surrogate measure of CBF) with increasing age in the group not taking omega-3 supplements, while this age-related decline was not observed in the group reporting omega-3 supplement use.”The study examined the MCAv during exercise as the primary outcome measure in 90 older adults aged between 65 and 90 years (female n=62) who were under-active or sedentary and classified as cognitively normal/non-demented.“Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no significant difference (p = 0.590) in mean MCAv during exercise between participants reporting omega-3 supplement use (52.05 ± 10.8 cm/s) and participants reporting no omega-3 supplement use (50.71 ± 12.6 cm/s). However, omega-3 supplementation moderated the effect of age on mean MCAv during exercise as evidenced by a statistically significant increase in total variation explained of 6.5%, F(1, 85) = 6.384,p= 0.013.”According to the study, resting CBF decreases over time during healthy ageing and this decline is accelerated in individuals developing cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease. The study also reports that CBF velocity both at rest and during exercise in people with chronic conditions such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and stroke are decreased.“There is a crucial need to identify methods of maintaining and/or augmenting CBF both at rest and during physiological challenges such as exercise. Omega-3 supplementation has been shown to increase CBF in response to carbon dioxide and during cognitive tasks. However, the impact of omega-3 supplementation on CBF during other stimuli relevant to daily life, such as exercise, has yet to be elucidated. Thus, the aim of the current study was to analyse the connection between self-reported omega-3 supplementation and CBF velocity during exercise in older adults,” the authors said.As the first study, according to the researchers, to explore the connection between omega-3 supplement use and CBF velocity, their results suggest that supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids may be one potential avenue to counteract the decline in exercising CBF which could in turn improve brain health and function.These findings are consistent with previous Australian research that found fish oil supplementation improved biomarkers of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular function.“Our results suggest that omega-3 supplement use might improve CBF during physiological challenges such as exercise. This may be important for maintaining adequate delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain over time, which could contribute to the prevention of cognitive decline,” the authors concluded. Source:
 Nutrients. 2020. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12030697">10.3390/nu12030697</a>

A new study has found that omega-3 supplement use may improve cerebral blood flow in older adults, prompting researchers to call for further studies.

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