Study Raises Hopes for Omega-3 and Depression in Females
Lee Swanson Research Update
Higher intakes of omega-3 fatty acids and oily fish may reduce the number of occasions that women suffer depressive symptoms by about 30%, according to a new study.
Women with the highest intake of oily fish reduced their number of depressive moments by 25%, while a high intake of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) reduced this number by 29%, according to researchers from Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California, San Francisco.
However, men did not respond in the same way as their female counterparts, according to the findings published in the journal Nutrition.
"Our results are consistent with […] other epidemiologic studies that have examined the association of fish intake or dietary omega-3 PUFAs with depressive disorders or mental disorders," wrote the researchers. "In addition, several small, randomized, double-blind trials found that adjunctive treatment with omega-3 PUFAs improved depression."
The researchers, led by Laura Colangelo, analyzed dietary intakes of fish and EPA and DHA among 3,317 African-American and Caucasian men and women. The average age of the participants at the start of the study was 35. Symptoms of depression were measured using the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.
Colangelo and her co-workers report that, for the population as a whole, EPA, DHA and EPA plus DHA were associated with reduced risk of depressive symptoms at the 10-year stage.
The effect was more pronounced in women, they note. Indeed, the highest intake of fish was associated with a 25% reduction in the risk of depressive symptoms, while the highest intakes of EPA, DHA and EPA plus DHA were associated with a 34%, 34% and 29% reduction in risk, compared to women with the lowest average intakes.
"High dietary intakes of fish and omega-3 fatty acids appear to be related to a lower risk of chronic depressive symptoms in women, but not in men, in this cohort," Colangelo and her co-workers concluded.
Nutrition Published online ahead of print.
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