Omega-3 fatty acids protect against Parkinson's, ...( Quebec City November 26 2007Omega-3 ...)

Quebec City, November 26, 2007Omega-3 fatty acids protect the brain against Parkinsons disease, according to a study by Universit Laval researchers published in the online edition of the FASEB Journal, the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. This study, supervised by Frederic Calon and Francesca Cicchetti, is the first to demonstrate the protective effect of a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids against Parkinsons.

Parkinsons disease is caused by the progressive death of the neurons responsible for producing dopamine, a neurotransmitter closely linked with movement control. The disease is usually diagnosed when 50 to 80% of these neurons are already dead, and there is currently no medication to stop that process.

The Universit Laval research teams findings could help prevent the disease and, potentially, slow down its progression.

The researchers observed that when mice were fed an omega-3 rich diet, they seemed immune to the effect of MPTP, a toxic compound that causes the same damage to the brain as Parkinsons. This compound, which has been used for more than 20 years in Parkinsons research, works faster than the disease itself and is just as effective in targeting and destroying the dopamine-producing neurons in the brain, points out Calon.

By contrast, another group of mice that were fed an ordinary diet developed the characteristic symptoms of the disease when injected with MPTP, including a 31% drop in dopamine-producing neurons and a 50% decrease in dopamine levels.

Analyses revealed that omega-3 fatty acidsin particular DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a specific type of omega-3had replaced the omega-6 fatty acids already present in the brains of the mice that had been given omega-3 supplementation.

This demonstrates both the importance of diet on the brains fatty acid composition and the brains natural inclination for omega-3 fatty acids, observes Calon. Since concentr
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