New research has found that people with depression 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 mild gastrointestinal problems.All the patients had already tried medications before enrolling in the study, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Zoloft or Prozac, or medications from an older family of drugs called tricyclic antidepressants. All the aforementioned drugs are considered standard treatments of depression.
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.
But depression isn't the only disease that may be affected by a person's levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Researchers have found that those who have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and other conditions associated with depression, have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood.
The study included 70 depressed patients who took a daily dose of one to 4 grams of EPA or an inactive drug. The treatment lasted 12 weeks.
The doses were either 1 gram, 2 grams or 4 grams of EPA. Those who took 1 gram experienced improvements akin to those given the inactive drug, in all the measurable aspects of depression, including sadness, anxiety, low sexual drive and suicidal tendencies.
There was a significant improvement of those patients who took 1 gram of EPA daily: 69 percent of the patients achieved a 50 percent reduction in their symptoms, in contrast to those who took the inactive drug, where 25 percent of the patients saw improvement.
The higher-dosage groups saw similar improvements, but no higher improvement than those who took the 1 gram daily dose. The study's authors surmise that this result may have had to do with the fact that a small amount of people took the 2 or 4 grams per day. They advised further trials to determine the efficacy of higher doses of EPA in treatment of depression.
Archives of General Psychiatry October 2002; 59: 913-919
There are a number of studies that show that fish oils are associated with decreased depression.
If you this subject interests you I would highly recommend Dr. Stoll's book The Omega-3 Connection. He is a Harvard psychiatrist who has done a great job of compiling the evidence supporting the use of fish oils for depression.
I am convinced that the ideal form of fish oil should be consumed in a liquid, and now advise against fish oil capsules. With fish oil liquid, I have found through clinical experience that the brand definitely matters.The dose for both the cod liver or plain fish oil liquid is one teaspoon for every 50 pounds of body weight per day. So, if you weigh 150 pounds that would be about one tablespoon (three teaspoons) per day. This is the equivalent of 15 typical fish oil capsules. This is a good initial dose for most people, but if you notice any belching or repeating it is likely your gallbladder is not digesting the fish oil properly and you may need to take a high potency enzyme with plenty of the fat digesting enzyme lipase.
If you continue to have nausea with the fish oil, it is probably wise to activate the "Listen to Your Body Principle" advocated in my nutrition plan and avoid the fish oil until you can be evaluated by a competent natural health care practitioner.
Many people are confused about the difference between fish oil liquid and cod liver oil. It helps to consider cod liver oil as fish oil-plus. It is the same as fish oil, but it has natural vitamin D and A. For most of us during the winter this becomes an important consideration: we don't have enough exposure to the sun to generate enough vitamin D to provide us with all its health benefits, so cod liver oil is excellent for its vitamin D (and vitamin A!) as well as its omega-3. In the warm weather months, or warm weather climates, however, you want to be careful not to overdose on vitamin D.
Ideally, you should measure your vitamin D levels. Unfortunately very few physicians do this. But if you overdose of vitamin D you can actually cause osteoporosis and hardening of your arteries as it causes a reverse effect.
In short, think cod liver oil during the cold months, and fish oil during the warm ones.
Dr. Hibbeln also published another study in May (J Affect Disord 2002 May;69(1-3):15-29) that showed that mothers selectively transfer DHA to their fetuses to support optimal neurological development during pregnancy. If they don't receive enough they run the risk of developing severe postpartum depression.