haidut

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Over the last 2 decades thousands of studies were published on the purported benefits of omega-3 fats commonly found in cold water fish. However, every large human trial with omega-3 either failed to find benefit or even found increased risk of harm. Despite that fact, there is very strong correlation between seafood consumption and health, especially brain health. Numerous studies have demonstrated lower risk of Parkinson, Alzheimer, ALS, Huntington, etc but the protective factor has been elusive so far.
This study below suggests that the specific protein composition of fish may be that protective factor. Specifically, the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (which is abundant in seafood) is what may be keeping our brains functioning well. Apparently, parvalbumin has other known benefits including protection from cancer.
Parvalbumin - Wikipedia
"...Calcium binding proteins like parvalbumin play a role in many physiological processes, namely cell-cycle regulation, second messenger production, muscle contraction, organization of microtubules and phototransduction.[1] Alterations in the function of parvalbumin-expressing neurons have been implicated in various areas of clinical interest such as Alzheimer's disease,[4] age-related cognitive defects and some forms of cancer.[3]"

I think parvalbumin is present in most fish types but if somebody has more data on that please post here. The cold-water fish consumption, with the notable exception of cod, should probably still be limited to avoid overload with omega-3.

Abundant fish protein inhibits α-synuclein amyloid formation
Eating more fish could prevent Parkinson's disease

"...Fish has long been considered a healthy food, linked to improved long-term cognitive health, but the reasons for this have been unclear. Omega-3 and -6, fatty acids commonly found in fish, are often assumed to be responsible, and are commonly marketed in this fashion. However, the scientific research regarding this topic has drawn mixed conclusions. Now, new research from Chalmers has shown that the protein parvalbumin, which is very common in many fish species, may be contributing to this effect. One of the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease is amyloid formation of a particular human protein, called alpha-synuclein. Alpha-synuclein is even sometimes referred to as the 'Parkinson's protein'. What the Chalmers researchers have now discovered, is that parvalbumin can form amyloid structures that bind together with the alpha-synuclein protein. Parvalbumin effectively 'scavenges' the alpha-synuclein proteins, using them for its own purposes, thus preventing them from forming their own potentially harmful amyloids later on. "Parvalbumin collects up the 'Parkinson's protein' and actually prevents it from aggregating, simply by aggregating itself first," explains Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Professor and Head of the Chemical Biology division at Chalmers, and lead author on the study. With the parvalbumin protein so highly abundant in certain fish species, increasing the amount of fish in our diet might be a simple way to fight off Parkinson's disease. Herring, cod, carp, and redfish, including sockeye salmon and red snapper, have particularly high levels of parvalbumin, but it is common in many other fish species too. The levels of parvalbumin can also vary greatly throughout the year."
 
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lollipop

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Finally something that makes sense! Highly explanatory for my rare fish cravings like something is needed that fish provides. I felt like it was not the Omega 3’s but had begun doubting myself.
 

Amazoniac

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Finally something that makes sense! Highly explanatory for my rare fish cravings like something is needed that fish provides. I felt like it was not the Omega 3’s but had begun doubting myself.
Is this protein more common in saltwater than freshwasser fish? Depending on it, if your cravings are greater for seafoods, then it's probably trace minerals that are less likely to be missing in those animals.

--
Fish Allergens at a Glance: Variable Allergenicity of Parvalbumins, the Major Fish Allergens
 

Wagner83

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Ain't taurine and glycine found in larger quantities? There are also the nutrients Amazoniac mentioned and the fact seafood can be both a good source of these things as well as low-fat.
 
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haidut

haidut

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Ain't taurine and glycine found in larger quantities? There are also the nutrients Amazoniac mentioned and the fact seafood can be both a good source of these things as well as low-fat.

Yes, and they certainly help as well. There is also a study on Ergo0log which showed that weight loss due to consuming more seafood is due to the higher taurine/glycine contents in the seafood protein.
 

Wagner83

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Yes, and they certainly help as well. There is also a study on Ergo0log which showed that weight loss due to consuming more seafood is due to the higher taurine/glycine contents in the seafood protein.
Eating a lot of scallops, octopus, shrimps (cholesterol too), crabs, and some cod and oysters would be an interesting experiment to run, but it can get expensive...
Maybe that's the one you were mentioning :
Scallop protein with endogenous high taurine and glycine content prevents high-fat, high-sucrose-induced obesity and improves plasma lipid profile ... - PubMed - NCBI
There are a few but it seems that high-protein intake can be protective against obesity and metabolic syndrome by itself, there are many reviews and articles on this.
 

ddjd

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Over the last 2 decades thousands of studies were published on the purported benefits of omega-3 fats commonly found in cold water fish. However, every large human trial with omega-3 either failed to find benefit or even found increased risk of harm. Despite that fact, there is very strong correlation between seafood consumption and health, especially brain health. Numerous studies have demonstrated lower risk of Parkinson, Alzheimer, ALS, Huntington, etc but the protective factor has been elusive so far.
This study below suggests that the specific protein composition of fish may be that protective factor. Specifically, the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (which is abundant in seafood) is what may be keeping our brains functioning well. Apparently, parvalbumin has other known benefits including protection from cancer.
Parvalbumin - Wikipedia
"...Calcium binding proteins like parvalbumin play a role in many physiological processes, namely cell-cycle regulation, second messenger production, muscle contraction, organization of microtubules and phototransduction.[1] Alterations in the function of parvalbumin-expressing neurons have been implicated in various areas of clinical interest such as Alzheimer's disease,[4] age-related cognitive defects and some forms of cancer.[3]"

I think parvalbumin is present in most fish types but if somebody has more data on that please post here. The cold-water fish consumption, with the notable exception of cod, should probably still be limited to avoid overload with omega-3.

Abundant fish protein inhibits α-synuclein amyloid formation
Eating more fish could prevent Parkinson's disease

"...Fish has long been considered a healthy food, linked to improved long-term cognitive health, but the reasons for this have been unclear. Omega-3 and -6, fatty acids commonly found in fish, are often assumed to be responsible, and are commonly marketed in this fashion. However, the scientific research regarding this topic has drawn mixed conclusions. Now, new research from Chalmers has shown that the protein parvalbumin, which is very common in many fish species, may be contributing to this effect. One of the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease is amyloid formation of a particular human protein, called alpha-synuclein. Alpha-synuclein is even sometimes referred to as the 'Parkinson's protein'. What the Chalmers researchers have now discovered, is that parvalbumin can form amyloid structures that bind together with the alpha-synuclein protein. Parvalbumin effectively 'scavenges' the alpha-synuclein proteins, using them for its own purposes, thus preventing them from forming their own potentially harmful amyloids later on. "Parvalbumin collects up the 'Parkinson's protein' and actually prevents it from aggregating, simply by aggregating itself first," explains Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Professor and Head of the Chemical Biology division at Chalmers, and lead author on the study. With the parvalbumin protein so highly abundant in certain fish species, increasing the amount of fish in our diet might be a simple way to fight off Parkinson's disease. Herring, cod, carp, and redfish, including sockeye salmon and red snapper, have particularly high levels of parvalbumin, but it is common in many other fish species too. The levels of parvalbumin can also vary greatly throughout the year."
Here they seem to be referring to the parvalbumin in Alaska Pollack as an allergen?

Characterization of parvalbumin, the major allergen in Alaska pollack, and comparison with codfish Allergen M. - PubMed - NCBI
 

benaoao

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EPA is pro inflammatory however DHA remains essential.

I’ll agree that the “food matrix” and the poor quality and overall fallacy of fish oil makes it a clear cut choice - Eat your fish, enjoy proteins, enjoy DHA. ALA seems to be good enough across all research.
 

Obi-wan

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Why the exception for Cod?
 
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Many types of fish also have a pretty high potassium content, that may potentiate some of the positive statistics.
 
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haidut

haidut

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What? When eaten, parvalbumin would be subject to digestion as all proteins are. It would be broken down, or be denatured at the very least. It sure as hell would't pass through unaffected AND somehow make it past the BBB. There's problems with this theory every step of the way. Even if it somehow made it in the brain intact and where it needed to be it wouldn't do jack ***t for any of these neurodegenerative diseases. In fact considering how allergenic it is (parvalbumin is the protein largely responsible for for allergies), I personally believe if the amount of parvalbumin from fish somehow made it inside the brain, there would be major problems, possibly seizures. I mean just imagine if it was injected directly into the brain. Everything would fall apart.

The people who worked on this paper are extremely stupid. But I bet they got some good grant money for this. Not only did they reinforce the flagrantly false dogma that fish prevents cognitive decline, but they ALSO reinforced the idea that Alzheimers (and now Parkinsons?) is caused by amyloid plaques (which are created solely from certain proteins). A double whammy. Modern science is a joke.

Antacid medication inhibits digestion of dietary proteins and causes food allergy: a fish allergy model in BALB/c mice. - PubMed - NCBI
 

Dave Clark

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Don't they say that fish is high in DMAE, which would maybe account for any positive brain effects?
 

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