Omega-3 for Depression and Bipolar
© John McManamy
Have we been fishing in all the wrong places for the magic bullet for depression and bipolar? Have scientists been turning a blind eye to a well-known elixir that works well for other diseases and conditions? Ever since psychiatry threw Freud and his couch in the rubbish bin a couple of decades back, the profession has been oriented toward prescription drugs. Now, their focus appears to be widening.
Last year, a Harvard University study generated a buzz throughout the bipolar community with the prospect of a natural substance that worked - fish oil. After years of being bombarded by industrial-strength pharmaceuticals and toxic salts, people with bipolar could possibly look forward to a kinder and gentler treatment. Paradoxically, the evidence is far stronger when it comes to depression, but we're lacking the clinical trials as proof.
In 1996, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study comparing the prevalence of depression across ten nations. The survey yielded eye-opening results in showing how the lifetime and annual rates for depression vary widely from country to country (eg 1.5 in every 100 adults in Taiwan experience depression in their lifetimes while the figure is 19 for every 100 adults in Beirut). But what really jumped out of all the data was the strong correlation found between depression and fish consumption, with the higher consuming populations experiencing less depression.
The working ingredient of fish oil is omega-3, a polyunsaturated fatty acid which is also found in certain plants such as flaxseed, pumpkin seed, and walnuts. According to Dr Joseph Hibbeln of the NIMH: "In the last century, [Western] diets have radically changed and we eat grossly fewer omega-3 fatty acids now. We also know that rates of depression have radically increased by perhaps a hundred-fold."
Compounding the problem is we eat far greater amounts of other damaging fatty acids. A healthy diet should provide for at least five grams daily of essential fatty acids, divided between omega-3 and omega-6.
A quick Medline search turns up several studies that show depleted omega-3 levels in the blood, cell membranes, and brains of depressed patients, suggesting that an intake of omega-3 could help reverse the process, though this has yet to be proved in clinical trials.
The one clinical trial to date was in the nature of a pilot study - the Harvard study - conducted on 30 patients with bipolar. All but eight of the subjects were on medications, which were left unchanged. All had experienced bipolar episodes over the past year. Half the subjects were given fish oil capsules equivalent to 30 cans of tuna a day (9.6 grams), the other half received olive oil.
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