Omega-3 and Female Depression

Filed in archive Dietary Supplements and Vitamins , Mental Maladies , Women's Health on February 7, 2009

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 7091547

High intake of omega-3 fatty acids have been found to decrease the occasion of depressive symptoms in women by about 30%.

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:

Women with the highest intake of oily fish reduced their number of depressive moments by 25 per cent, while a high intake of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA reduced this number by 29 per cent.

"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. In addition, several small, randomized, double-blind trials found that adjunctive treatment with omega-3 PUFAs improved depression."

However, the same results have not been found in men.

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