# Fish is brain food?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 22, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714 "2008-02-22T13:00:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/1 "2008-02-22T13:00:21Z")
Ok, we’ve all heard this, but I want specifics. How can I find the straightdope on what fish can do for brain development, and which fish? Does shellfish count?
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/2 "2008-02-22T13:08:06Z")
I believe the claims are made regarding Omega 3 fatty acid, which is concentrated in [oily fish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid#Fish).
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### Author:  [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/3 "2008-02-22T13:10:14Z")
I guess it derives from the fact of fish possessing relatively high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Studies show they seem to help:
> [@](#):
>
> [On the contrary](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18188871), high intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was associated with better semantic memory. Also frequent fish consumption was associated with better global cognitive function and semantic memory. Further, higher PUFA-SFA ratio was associated with better psychomotor speed and executive function.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/4 "2008-02-22T14:11:39Z")
The phrase has been tied in with promoting the Omega 3 of fish oil for a few decades already.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/5 "2008-02-22T14:19:18Z")
People have been calling fish ‘brain food’ for decades though - certainly since a long time before the current Omega fatty acids thing - perhaps because it’s a good protein source that is easy to eat and digest, or maybe - if the phrase goes back far enough - because of some quite weird ideas about foods and their effect on the body.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/6 "2008-02-22T14:40:56Z")
Fish will probably happily eat brain in return.
Ahh, the cycle of life.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/7 "2008-02-22T15:01:53Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
People have been calling fish ‘brain food’ for decades though - certainly since a long time before the current Omega fatty acids thing - perhaps because it’s a good protein source that is easy to eat and digest, or maybe - if the phrase goes back far enough - because of some quite weird ideas about foods and their effect on the body.
[/QUOTE]
Here is ancient evidence to back up **Mangetout** ’s first point:
_Customer to Fishmonger_: Hey! You told me fish heads are brain food, and I’ve been eating fish head stew for a week. Now, I realize you’re charging me twice as much for the fish heads as I’d pay for the rest of the fish!
_Fishmonger_: You see? You’re getting smarter already!
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/8 "2008-02-22T16:39:51Z")
You’ll want to be careful with those assumptions about fish being brain food. My mother firmly believed that, and she got me! 😃
Of course, my brother is a genius.
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### Author:  [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/9 "2008-02-22T17:57:03Z")
If a salmon eats nine hazelnuts that fell from the nine trees into the fountain of wisdom, the first person to eat of that salmon will gain all the knowledge in the world, or something.
[cite](http://www.allaboutirish.com/library/tales/demne.shtm)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/10 "2008-02-22T19:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat]
Fish will probably happily eat brain in return.
[/QUOTE]
Only in Soviet Russia.
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/11 "2008-02-23T00:49:45Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist]
If a salmon eats nine hazelnuts that fell from the nine trees into the fountain of wisdom, the first person to eat of that salmon will gain all the knowledge in the world, or something.
[cite](http://www.allaboutirish.com/library/tales/demne.shtm)
[/QUOTE]
“What’s that?”
“That’s my costume. The Salmon of Knowledge.”
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/12 "2008-02-23T00:57:44Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
People have been calling fish ‘brain food’ for decades though - certainly since a long time before the current Omega fatty acids thing - perhaps because it’s a good protein source that is easy to eat and digest, or maybe - if the phrase goes back far enough - because of some quite weird ideas about foods and their effect on the body.
[/QUOTE]
I can testify that they’ve been saying it for at least 40 years. When I first heard it, it wasn’t tied to anything in particular except, maybe, to the old joke.
Q Why do they say that fish is good brain food?
A 'Cause they travel in schools.
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/13 "2008-02-23T14:18:00Z")
When I was a kid way back in the 60s I had a book called **Superstitious? Here’s Why**. This was a children’s book, paperback, a few nice illustrations. It would explain the reasons behind many well-known superstitions, very few I had ever heard about myself, including the food is brain food thing.
It explained that there had been a scientific study that had shown that fish was high is a particular chemical, and that another study had shown that the brain was also high in the same chemical. I cannot remember what the chemical was (not enough fish, obviously). I’m thinking potassium, but who knows. Anyway, less informed people heard about these two studies and decided there was a connection. It also said that while eating some fish was good for you, it wouldn’t make you any smarter.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/14 "2008-02-23T14:37:49Z")
[QUOTE=Julius Henry]
It explained that there had been a scientific study that had shown that fish was high is a particular chemical, and that another study had shown that the brain was also high in the same chemical. I cannot remember what the chemical was (not enough fish, obviously). I’m thinking potassium, but who knows.
[/QUOTE]
Phosphorus. People used to think eating fish made you smarter because of the phosphorus.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/15 "2008-02-23T15:07:33Z")
Well, phosphorus will make you … brighter.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/16 "2008-02-23T15:34:53Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow]
Well, phosphorus will make you … brighter.
[/QUOTE]
A matchless comment.
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### Author:  [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fish-is-brain-food/438714/17 "2008-02-23T20:51:59Z")
Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster usually says something in every book about Jeeves’ intake of fish and his brain power. I’m posting from work, and so have no books at hand for a better cite/quote.