Fishing for the Right Words

Words may not trip as lightly off the tongue as we get older, but we can do something about it: Eat salmon.

And tuna. And herring. And lake trout. Here's how eating fish helps give you a silver tongue.

Middle-aged and older adults who have higher blood levels of certain fatty acids -- those found in fatty fish like salmon and tuna -- fare better on verbal fluency tasks compared with their peers who are deficient in fatty acids. It seems to be particularly true for people with artery troubles like hypertension or high levels of unhealthy blood fats. Researchers suspect that people in this group suffer from greater oxidative stress -- which can wreak havoc on memory and other cognitive functions.

Did You Know?

Serving your fish with a side of tropical fruit could help reduce your mercury exposure?

Frequently eating certain kinds of fish may increase a person's exposure to mercury, a toxic substance that fish may absorb from the environment. However, a recent study of women in a fish-eating community revealed that the women who also ate the most tropical fruits had the lowest mercury levels.

Eating fish has heart-healthy benefits. To enjoy fish while minimizing your mercury exposure, limit your consumption of larger, long-lived predatory fish and mammals, which tend to accumulate more mercury from the environment compared to shorter-lived fish. Swordfish, shark, tilefish, king mackerel, red snapper, and orange roughy tend to have the highest mercury levels. Eating antioxidant-rich tropical fruits, such as mango, pineapple, banana, and papaya, also may help reduce the amount of mercury that your body absorbs.