A long‐term fatty fish intervention improved executive function in inpatients with antisocial traits and a history of alcohol and drug abuse

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of fatty fish consumption on cognitive functioning in a group of inpatients characterized by antisocial behavior. Eighty-three male forensic inpatients participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned into a Fish or a Control group (e.g., meat, chicken, pork). One decision-making task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and one planning task, the Tower of Hanoi (ToH), were administered before (pre-test) and at the end of the intervention period (post-test). For the IGT the Fish group showed improved performance from pre- to post- test. Moreover, the Fish group showed significantly better performance than the Control group on the IGT at post-test. The Fish group also demonstrated improved performance from pre- to post-test on the ToH; however, this was limited to participants with a history of substance abuse. Further, the improvement was only significant for tasks with high working memory load (5-7 move problems), and not for tasks with low working memory load (1-4 move problems). The Control group showed no improvement on any of the tasks regardless of alcohol or drug abuse history. The present study suggests that regular fatty fish consumption may improve executive functions in forensic inpatients with antisocial traits and a history of substance abuse. Thus, the current results may have important implications with regard to health care interventions.

Oily Fish Intake and Cognitive Performance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: The Atahualpa Project

“…Studies assessing a possible relationship between x-3 PUFAs intake and cognitive performance are by no means uniform [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Some studies have focused on the effects of oily fish intake while others have studied the effects of fish oils administration.…”

“…Therefore, oily fish consumptionbeing the most common dietary source of x-3 PUFAs-might be associated with a better cognitive performance and with a decreased rate of progression from normal aging to mild cognitive impairment or dementia. However, the literature on this subject is inconclusive, with some studies showing a positive effect [3][4][5][6], while others showing no association [7][8][9]. Same controversial results have been noticed in studies addressing the effect of fish oils supplements on cognitive function [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

The effects of diet on levels of physical activity during winter in forensic inpatients – A randomized controlled trial

“…This study is one of a series of papers from a parallel group randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of a long-term fatty fish intervention on mental health (1,2,14,16,22). The intervention period took place in a secure facility between September 2008 and February 2009.…”

“…In order to match the participants, one of the co-authors enrolled participants and another co-author produced the matched pairs (stratification). The same person who enrolled the participants set up the implementation of the computerized random number generator which determined the group to which each participant would be assigned (2,14). Figure 1, a CONSORT diagram (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials), presents the study progress for this particular study.…”

“…As winter is associated with higher rates of mortality caused by cardiovascular events (11) and impairment in mental states (12,13), it is important to identify strategies that can prevent a reduction in physical activity during winter. Recent research demonstrated that a fatty fish intervention during winter with a forensic inpatient sample characterized by mental health problems (1) caused improvement in a number of health-related variables, such as increased HRV and reduced HR, reduced anxiety, and improved cognitive or executive functioning (1,2,14). Both HRV and executive functioning are important underlying mechanisms involved in self-regulation and behavior control (15).…”