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Q) Can Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements help with depression?

A) Despite the availability of a wide number of anti-depressants, a substantial proportion of patients suffering from depression either do not respond to the treatment, are unable to tolerate them or refuse to take them. 

So, there is a clear need for additional therapeutic options and past research has suggested that Omega-3 may play a beneficial role, although the evidence up to now has been insufficient to provide a firm recommendation.  

As such, Canadian researchers at eight different clinics enrolled 432 patients diagnosed with depression into a study in which half of them received Omega-3 supplements (1,050 mg eicosapentaenoic acid and 150 mg docosahexaenoic acid daily) and the other half received a placebo containing sunflower oil.  

The patients were followed regularly for eight weeks and the patients included many who would normally be excluded from a drug trial conducted by a pharmaceutical company (i.e. those patients with chronic depression, who also suffer from anxiety, were already taking an anti-depressant or undergoing psychotherapy) but are the types of patients who turn up in physician’s offices every day.

At the end of the eight weeks, those patients taking the Omega-3 supplements had significantly fewer depressive symptoms than those taking the placebo across all different types of patient groups other than those who had also been diagnosed with anxiety disorder. 

The numbers were so substantial that experts have commented that the results were exactly what they would have liked to have seen from a successful typical anti-depressant. 

As mentioned above, those patients also suffering from anxiety disorder did not respond as well, a result that is not too surprising given that these people are typically more difficult to treat.  

Overall however, when combined with the fact that psychiatric patients are at a high risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic problems and that Omega-3s have proven efficacy in combating these issues as well, the recommendation to take one gram per day struck leading experts as a “no-brainer." 

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Monday, July 05, 2010