Fish Oil May Help Relieve Stubborn Depression
Fish Oil May Help Relieve Stubborn Depression
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Daily supplements of an omega-3 fatty acid--found in
fish and fish oil--may help alleviate the symptoms of depression in patients who
do not respond to standard antidepressant medications, new research findings
suggest.
Dr. Malcolm Peet of the Swallownest Court Hospital in Sheffield, England and his
colleague found that depressed patients who received a daily dose of 1 gram of
an omega-3 fatty acid for 12 weeks experienced a decrease in their symptoms,
such as sadness, anxiety and sleeping problems.
The only side effect of the treatment appeared to be gastrointestinal problems,
which Peet and his co-author Dr. David F. Horrobin of Laxdale Research, Ltd. in
Stirling, Scotland, deemed "mild."
All of the patients had tried other medications before enrolling in the current
study, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac
and medications from an older family of drugs called tricyclic antidepressants.
Both types of drug are considered standard treatments for depression.
This is not the first study to suggest that omega-3 fatty acids, such as the
form of eicosapenaenoic acid (EPA) used in this report, may help patients with
psychiatric disorders. Previous researchers have suggested that the balance of
omega-3 fatty acids in the brain may become skewed in people with depression,
and earlier studies have shown that fish oil supplements can help alleviate the
symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, or manic depression.
In addition, researchers have found that people who are depressed, as well as
those diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and other conditions associated
with depression, have relatively low levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their
blood.
In the current study, reported in the October issue of the Archives of General
Psychiatry, Peet and Horrobin asked 70 depressed patients who had not benefited
from previous treatments to take a daily dose of either 1 gram, 2 grams or 4
grams of EPA, or an inactive drug. The treatment lasted 12 weeks.
The investigators found that people given the 1 gram daily EPA dose experienced
improvements--relative to those given the inactive drug--in all of the measured
aspects of depression, including sadness, anxiety, low libido and suicidal
tendencies. In fact, 69% of the patients treated with the 1-gram daily dose
achieved a 50% reduction in their symptoms of depression, a result seen in only
25% of the patients given an inactive drug.
"The effect of ethyl-eicosapentaenoate (the form of EPA used) applies to all
major components of the depressive syndrome and is seen equally in the patient
and physician assessments," the authors write.
Peet and Horrobin did not note any improvements in the patients given higher
doses of the fatty acid relative to the placebo group, which they suggested may
be due to the small number of people who were given either 2 grams or 4 grams
per day.
"Although there appeared to be a trend toward significant efficacy at the 4-gram
per day dosage, larger studies would be required to elucidate possible
beneficial effects of the higher dosages," they write.
SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry 2002;59:913-919.
Last Updated: 2002-10-17 10:00:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)
http://www.realage.com/HB25/HB25.asp?wci=HArticle&cid=13724&sid=1051
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.408 / Virus Database: 230 - Release Date: 10/25/2002