Research Summary Archives

One of the most important reasons to assure the adequate intake of long-chain omega-3 PUFAs (n-3 LC-PUFAs) during pregnancy and early infancy is the importance of these fatty acids, especially DHA, in the structural and functional development of the brain. Although DHA is found in cell membranes thr...

If you want to peer into the brain, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the instrument of choice. MRI is used for identifying and assessing brain changes in healthy aging, normal cognitive behavior, predicting Alzheimer’s disease, studying memory and intellectual development, understanding diverse o...

More frequent consumption of fish, especially fatty fish, and higher blood levels of long-chain omega-3 PUFAs (n-3 LC-PUFAs) have been associated with a lower risk of developing dementia and cognitive decline in several prospective cohort studies of older adults. As is often the case, not all studie...

Positive links between DHA, long-chain omega-3 PUFA (n-3 LC-PUFA) status or intake and LC-PUFA supplementation and cognitive function have been reported in infants, children, adults and the elderly, but the literature is inconsistent and effects have usually been small. Several, but not all, studies...

Clifford Woolf, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, once described pain as being “like love, all consuming” and “when you have it, not much else matters.” Shorn of its poetry, the International Association for the Study of Pain writes that pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emo...

Less well known than adult strokes are those occurring in infants. They may affect up to 1,700 infants in the U.S. each year. Pediatric strokes are often related to changes in hemostasis in the mother or the placenta, particularly around the time of birth. An infant experiencing a stroke faces an in...

Excessive anxiety during pregnancy increases the chances of lower birthweight and shorter gestation and may adversely affect the infant’s neurodevelopment. Cognitive behavioral therapy, prescription medications, yoga, complementary therapies and exercise may be beneficial in reducing maternal anxiet...

Animal and human studies have demonstrated that, in the metabolic syndrome or elderly patients with an acute illness, those who undergo surgery often experience a surgery-induced sharp decline in cognition. Similar impairments have been observed in patients with severe infection, chemotherapy, traum...

Higher concentrations of DHA in brain have been associated with improved memory performance in individuals with mild cognitive impairment, age-related cognitive decline, preterm infants fed LC-PUFA-supplemented formula, school-aged children with higher umbilical cord DHA concentrations and better co...

Many characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease are agreed, but the origins, cause, physiological processes and progression of this debilitating condition are not. For example, it has been suggested that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional phase between normal cognitive changes in aging an...

The importance of DHA in the recovery from spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries has been demonstrated in DHA-treated animals that exhibit dramatic improvements in motor function, greatly reduced neuronal loss, improved learning, less oxidative stress, and more rapid recovery. This work suggests t...

As people live longer, they are more likely to develop one or more of the chronic diseases of aging, particularly dementia. The most common type of dementia in older adults is Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive condition of brain degeneration. We still do not know why some of us develop the conditio...