Health
News: 22.Oct.2002 Fish fatty acid, EPA, may relieve stubborn depressionSupplementation with Eicosapentaeonic acid, or EPA, 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 Dr David Horrobin of Laxdale Research Ltd, in Stirling,
Scotland, 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 mild gastrointestinal problems. All of the patie 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. Archives of General Psychiatry 2002;59:913-919.1g
of EPA?
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