{"id":87623,"date":"2025-08-23T14:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/87623\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T14:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T14:50:11","slug":"could-boosting-omega-3-intake-help-lower-alzheimers-risk-in-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/87623\/","title":{"rendered":"Could boosting omega-3 intake help lower Alzheimer’s risk in women?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"twoShare on Pinterest<\/a>Women with Alzheimer\u2019s disease have lower levels of healthy fats, study finds. Image credit: Alina Rudya\/Bell Collective\/Getty ImagesResearchers based in the United Kingdom recently published a study that analyzed lipid levels in men and women with and without Alzheimer\u2019s disease or mild cognitive impairment. Women with the disease had fewer healthy fats and more unhealthy fats. Men with Alzheimer\u2019s did not have a difference in lipid levels compared to men without Alzheimer\u2019s. This led the researchers to believe that increasing omega-3 intake could provide protective benefits to women. While omega-3 is available as a supplement, it is found in foods such as salmon, flax seed, and edamame. <\/p>\n

Alzheimer\u2019s disease is a brain disorder that impacts memory and thinking skills. The disease is progressive<\/a> and can cause complications that can lead to death. <\/p>\n

Women receive an Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis more often<\/a> than men, and researchers are curious about why this happens. <\/p>\n

Scientists in the United Kingdom have recently conducted a study evaluating lipid<\/a> (fat) biomarkers in men and women to see if there were any differences that could explain the disparity. <\/p>\n

Lipids are essential<\/a> to the composition of the cell membrane. They are especially important in the brain because they support nerve function and electrical impulse transmission. <\/p>\n

The researchers analyzed samples from 841 participants from the AddNeuroMed cohort and the Dementia Case Register to determine lipid levels. The participant pool included: <\/p>\n

The study included 491 women and 350 men. The researchers did not include any participants who had other psychiatric or neurological disorders. <\/p>\n

To determine lipid levels, the scientists tested plasma using a process called lipidomics to measure hundreds of lipids and chose to focus on 268 lipids that passed quality control. <\/p>\n

They next compared the results to determine if there were any differences associated with Alzheimer\u2019s and biological sex.<\/p>\n

Women displayed the greatest differences when compared with healthy individuals.<\/p>\n

Women with Alzheimer\u2019s had significantly lower levels of highly unsaturated lipids, especially those containing omega-3 fatty<\/a> acids like DHA and EPA<\/a>. These women also had higher levels of unhealthy lipids.<\/p>\n

The researchers did not find the same pattern in men with Alzheimer\u2019s when comparing them to men in the control group. <\/p>\n

Overall, the scientists found 32 lipids that were significantly associated with Alzheimer\u2019s in women, and none were significantly linked in men.<\/p>\n

When reviewing cognitive test scores, the researchers found that the changes in unhealthy lipids were linked to worse cognitive test scores in women with Alzheimer\u2019s but not in men with the disease. <\/p>\n

According to the study authors, this may be due to changes in enzymes that process healthy fats or from disruptions to pathways that help maintain brain cells. A group of fats called plasmalogens<\/a> helps reduce inflammation and protect the brain but in women with Alzheimer\u2019s, their levels appear disrupted. <\/p>\n

Overall, the study demonstrates the importance of not taking a \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d approach to researching Alzheimer\u2019s in women and men.<\/p>\n

While the authors note the importance of incorporating more omega-3s in the diet, they said further studies and clinical trials are needed to confirm whether dietary changes can influence Alzheimer\u2019s disease. <\/p>\n

Allison B. Reiss<\/a>, MD, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine and a member of the Alzheimer\u2019s Foundation of America\u2019s (AFA) Medical, Scientific and Memory Screening Advisory Board, spoke with Medical News Today about the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe differences between male and female metabolism in relation to [Alzheimer\u2019s disease] risk are explored here, and the sexes are not lumped together,\u201d said Reiss, who was not involved in this research. \u201cThis makes sense because we know that both [Alzheimer\u2019s disease] risk and lipid metabolism differ in men and women and that lipid metabolism is influenced by sex hormones.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether incorporating omega-3s could reduce Alzheimer\u2019s risk, Reiss said, \u201cit is possible, but not proven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthy, balanced, and nutritious diets incorporate omega-3s. A diet where we \u2018eat the rainbow\u2019 of many fruits and vegetables will have benefits that cannot be achieved by concentrating on trying to jam into your system a specific type of chemical compound.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u2013 Allison B. Reiss, MD<\/p>\n

Timothy Ciesielski<\/a>, MD, a research scientist in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve\u2019s School of Medicine, also spoke with MNT about the study findings. <\/p>\n

According to Ciesielski, who likewise not involved in the research, this study \u201cprovides more evidence that lipid physiology contributes to Alzheimer\u2019s development, and that the impact of lipids on Alzheimer\u2019s development may differ between males and females.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ciesielski explained that women process polyunsaturated fats<\/a> faster and often have higher levels, partly because omega-3s are needed for fetal brain development during pregnancy. He said this may leave women more vulnerable to omega-3 depletion, which could possibly increase Alzheimer\u2019s risk. <\/p>\n

Additionally, Ciesielski said the study demonstrates that \u201cwe should stratify by sex whenever possible in future research.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share on PinterestWomen with Alzheimer\u2019s disease have lower levels of healthy fats, study finds. Image credit: Alina Rudya\/Bell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[915,854,102,6636,8680,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-87623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-alzheimers-disease","9":"tag-dementia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-omega-3","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}