NEWS: Be healthy, be happy - put fish in your diet

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Be healthy, be happy - put fish in your diet

By Judy Foreman

Special To The Sun

Originally published March 11, 2005

Feeling depressed? Ask not what your parents did or didn't do when you

were a child. Ask yourself what you had for dinner last night, and the

night before, and the night before that.

For half a dozen years, the evidence has been growing that omega-3

fatty acids, the kind found in fatty fish like salmon, sardines and

tuna, can help prevent and treat depression.

Rich in EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid),

these are among the " good " oils that have long been known to reduce the

risk of heart attacks and strokes. They are also the oils that, in

recent decades, in tandem with rising depression rates, Americans have

not been getting enough of.

Omega-3s combat autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, reduce

cardiac arrhythmias and are crucial to the development of the spinal

cord, brain and retina in infants and to healthy brain functioning in

adults as well.

The case for linking low omega-3 levels to depression is strong, though

not yet a slam-dunk. But there is little risk - and significant benefit

- to following the American Heart Association recommendation to eat

fish at least twice a week and, if you have heart disease, taking at

least 1 gram a day of supplements containing EPA and DHA.

The latest evidence for the role of omega-3 fatty acids and depression

came last month when researchers from McLean Hospital in Belmont,

Mass., reported that omega-3 fatty acids, plus uridine, another

substance found commonly in meat and other protein-rich foods,

prevented depression in rats just as well as antidepressant drugs. The

effect of uridine was immediate, said Bill Carlezon, director of the

behavioral genetics lab at McLean. It took 30 days for omega-3 to kick

in. But combining the two made omega-3 effective three times faster.

" There is something to this story, " said Dr. Leuchter, vice

chairman of psychiatry at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA. " I

have seen enough patients who treat themselves with omega-3 fatty acids

to think these substances may have, at least in some individuals,

potent effects on mood. "

No one knows exactly why omega-3s might protect against depression, but

theories abound. One is that depression may, in part, be an

inflammatory problem, which omega-3s can damp down, said Dr.

Stoll, director of psychopharmacology at McLean. Another is that the

oils keep cell membranes more fluid, making it easier for receptors to

respond to neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is often deficient

in depression. It's also possible omega-3s boost levels of serotonin.

Whatever the underlying mechanism, " the epidemiological evidence is

huge, " Stoll said, that omega-3s can protect against depression.

Overall, major depression is 60 times more prevalent in countries where

little fish is eaten, said Dr. ph R. Hibbeln, senior clinical

investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

In 1998, Hibbeln and others showed that high fish-eating countries like

Japan and Taiwan have very low rates of depression, while low

fish-eating countries like Germany and the United States have high

rates. " When you compare rates of depression across populations, there

is a consistent finding of strikingly lower rates of major depression,

bipolar depression, seasonal affective disorder and postpartum

depression in countries where people eat more seafood, " he said.

A 2002 Taiwanese study of 28 people using both EPA and DHA found

significant improvement in depression scores, compared to placebo. But

not all studies support this. A New Zealand team studied 77 mildly

depressed people and randomly assigned them to add 8 grams a day of

fish oil or a placebo (olive oil) to standard antidepressant therapy.

Mood improved in both groups.

In the plus column, bipolar depression, or manic depression, also seems

to be helped by omega-3 fatty acids. A study comparing 10 countries

showed that higher fish consumption correlated with lower rates of

bipolar disorder.

And a 1999 study by Stoll of McLean showed that giving fish oil

supplements to people with bipolar disorder reduced episodes of

depression and mania.

Omega-3 fatty acids appear to have other benefits as well.

Several studies have found that low intake of fish and omega-3s

correlates with higher rates of hostility, which is often associated

with depression in males. Pilot studies by Dr. Freeman,

director of the Women's Mental Health Program at the University of

Arizona, suggest taking DHA and EPA can reduce postpartum depression by

50 percent.

(Many pregnant women and nursing mothers, added Freeman, have been

frightened about eating any kind of fish because of government warnings

of particularly high mercury levels in a few species such as king

mackerel, shark, swordfish and tilefish. The Center for Science in the

Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group, says that sardines and

salmon contain little mercury; women of reproductive age should

probably limit their consumption of canned tuna to one can of white or

two cans of light per week.)

That's more than enough evidence for me. Given the longstanding overall

health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and the newly emerging

psychiatric benefits, the conclusion is a no-brainer. Eat fish three

times a week. And if you hate fish (as I do), take at least one gram a

day of a supplement with EPA and DHA.

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