Fish oil supplements maintain weight for Alzheimer’s sufferers
Elderly Alzheimer’s sufferers may avoid a sudden loss of weight in the earlier stages of the disease if they use fish oil supplements on a regular basis, according to a Swedish study carried out at the Karolinksa University Hospital in Stockholm.
The study of 204 early-stage men and women patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s assigned fish oil supplements or placebos for six months – and followed then for a further six months – found that people with low levels of the omega-3 fish oil acids were prone to falling, which was associated with the ongoing loss of body weight.
The researchers noted that people began losing weight in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and got thinner as the disease progressed. At the study’s outset the patients had an average weight of 154 pounds and six months later the omega-3 group had gained 1.5 pounds while the placebo group’s average weight was unchanged.
After one year the omega-3 group had jumped three pounds while the placebo group had gained a moderate increase after being switched to omega-3s. Caregivers for both groups reported that the omega-3s improved overall appetite for all patients.
