Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Repurposing Opportunities for Cognition and Biobehavioral Disturbances in MCI and Dementia

Title:Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Repurposing Opportunities for Cognition and Biobehavioral Disturbances in MCI and Dementia

Volume: 14 Issue: 3

Author(s): Christian Knöchel, Martin Voss, Florian Gruter, Gilberto S. Alves, Silke Matura, Beate Sepanski, Michael Stablein, Dominik Kraft, David Prvulovic, Andre F. Carvalho, Andreas Reif and Viola Oertel-Knochel

Affiliation:

Keywords: Omega 3 fatty acids, psychiatric disorders, cognition, Alzheimer's dementia, MCI.

Abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases may directly affect memory performance, thus leading to functional impairments. An increasing body of evidence suggests an association between dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids and memory functioning in animal models as well as in human studies. Recent evidence supports a potential beneficial role of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on psychopathological and cognitive symptoms, beside their established positive effects on cardiovascular health.

Objective: We summarize relevant and recent evidence from epidemiological, interventional and experimental studies investigating dietary consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and emphazing mechanisms of memory disorders, with a focus on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Omega-3 fatty acid could represent an affordable and accessible adjunctive treatment option to improve cognitive and non-cognitive function with a focus on MCI or dementia. However, apart from its translational promise, which is based on mechanistic models and evidence from animal studies, evidence for clinical benefits in humans is lacking.

Method: To follow this research question, a search through electronic databases for the following search terms to identify relevant studies was conducted: ‘omega 3 fatty acids’, ‘cognition’, ‘memory’, ´Alzheimer´s Disease ´, ´dementia´, ´MCI`. Studies were included if they presented original data and were published in English between 1990 and 2015.

Results: To our the best of our knowledge, there are only 8 interventional studies that investigated the effects of n3-PUFAs in dementia patients, while 6 studies were conducted in healthy individuals, which in combination show equivocal results.

Conclusion: This verifies the need for larger and (more) well designed clinical trials.

Cite this article as:

Knöchel Christian, Voss Martin, Gruter Florian, Alves S. Gilberto, Matura Silke, Sepanski Beate, Stablein Michael, Kraft Dominik, Prvulovic David, Carvalho F. Andre, Reif Andreas and Oertel-Knochel Viola, Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Repurposing Opportunities for Cognition and Biobehavioral Disturbances in MCI and Dementia, Current Alzheimer Research 2017; 14 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1567205013666160602235520

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1567205013666160602235520	Print ISSN 1567-2050
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 1875-5828