Eating baked or broiled fish once a week is good for the brain, regardless of how much omega-3 fatty acid it contains, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The findings, published online recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, add to growing evidence that lifestyle factors contribute to brain health later in life.

“Our study shows that people who ate a diet that included baked or broiled, but not fried, fish have larger brain volumes in regions associated with memory and cognition,” senior investigator James T. Becker, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, Pitt School of Medicine said. “We did not find a relationship between omega-3 levels and these brain changes, which surprised us a little. It led us to conclude that we were tapping into a more general set of lifestyle factors that were affecting brain health of which diet is just one part.”

Read the full story.

Source: University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences. “Eating baked, broiled fish weekly boosts brain health, study says.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 August 2014.