Health and Fitness News and Notes

Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, the fats found in fish, are linked to a healthier old age, according to a new study.

Researchers tracked 2,622 adults, average age 74 and healthy at the start of the study, from 1992 to 2015, looking to see if they continued to live without chronic diseases and without mental or physical problems.

The investigators measured blood levels of four common types of omega-3s: EPA and DHA, found in seafood; ALA, derived from plants; and DPA, which the body produces in small amounts.

After adjusting for many medical, dietary and lifestyle factors, they found that compared with people in the lowest one-fifth for omega-3 levels, those in the highest one-fifth had an 18 percent lower risk of unhealthy aging. The study appeared in BMJ.

Considered separately, EPA and DPA were associated with lowered risk of unhealthy aging, but DHA and ALA were not.

The lead author, Heidi T.M. Lai, a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University, said that the study is observational and does not prove cause and effect.

Still, she said, “In our study we found that adults with higher blood levels of omega-3s from seafood were more likely to live longer and healthier lives. So it is a great idea to eat more fish.”

Yet another reason to drink coffee: A new study suggests it can be good for the complexion.

Researchers studied the effect of coffee drinking on the risk for rosacea, a chronic skin disease that causes facial redness in about 5 percent of the population.

The scientists used data on 82,737 women participating in a large health study between 1991 and 2005. The study collected information on coffee consumption every four years and documented 4,945 cases of clinician-diagnosed rosacea over the period.

The analysis, in JAMA Dermatology, found that compared with women in the lowest one-fifth for caffeinated coffee consumption, those in the highest one-fifth were 24 percent less likely to have rosacea. Women who drank four or more cups a day had a 23 percent lower risk of the skin disorder than those who drank less than a cup a month. Decaffeinated coffee was not associated with a decreased risk for rosacea.

The senior author, Wen-Qing Li, an assistant professor of dermatology at Brown University, said that the study focused on the risk of developing rosacea, but that people with the disorder might also benefit from drinking coffee.

“We would positively anticipate that caffeine intake and caffeinated coffee consumption may be beneficial for lessening rosacea severity as well,” he said, “but this would require further clinical investigation.”

Having pre-eclampsia — dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy — is linked to an increased risk for dementia later in life, according to a new study.

Up to 5 percent of pregnant women develop pre-eclampsia, usually after the 20th week. In addition to hypertension, the condition can include signs of diminished kidney or liver function.

Researchers followed about 1.2 million Danish women who had given birth between 1978 and 2015. More than 58,000 of them had pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. The study is in BMJ.

Having pre-eclampsia doubled the risk for vascular dementia, and quadrupled the risk for women older than 65. There was a modest association of pre-eclampsia with Alzheimer’s disease, and none with any other type of dementia.

“My advice to a woman who has had pre-eclampsia is the same for dementia as it would be for cardiovascular risk,” said the senior author, Heather A. Boyd, a researcher at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen. “Get the hypertension down, get the weight within normal range, work on lowering the risk for Type 2 diabetes. We still need to confirm this finding in other populations, and then we need to figure out what to do about it. We don’t know at this point what the intervention should be.”