Fish Oil May Help Relieve Stubborn Depression

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Fish Oil May Help Relieve Stubborn Depression

Thu Oct 17,11:21 AM ET

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. 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.