Well, yes, it would... except for people who hate fish, who would be doomed to misery. But is it true? A new paper from Finnish researchers Suominen-Taipale et al looks at this issue: Fish Consumption and Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Relation to Depressive Episodes: A Cross-Sectional Analysis. The results are complex, but essentially, negative.The authors looked at a large sample (total n=6,500) of Finnish people from the general population, and asked them questions about their diet, and their mood. They found a correlation between the amount of fish a person reported eating, and their likelihood of self-reporting depressive symptoms. However, this should be taken with a pinch of salt, a slice of lemon and a light cheese sauc...sorry. This should be taken with a pinch of salt, because it was only true in men, and it was only statistically significant using some measures of fish eating, not others.
Also, there was zero correlation between blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, and depression, even in men. Omega 3's are considered to be the good stuff in (oily) fish, and are currently being promoted as good for your brain, your mood, your IQ, etc. by health food fans.To be fair, it's completely plausible that eating lots of them is good for you, because they are known to be involved in nerve cell function. And there are many papers finding them to be a good thing. But this study is not one of them. (The same authors also have another paper out finding no correlation between fish eating or omega 3 and "psychological distress", but it's largely overlapping data.)
The authors conclude that fish may be beneficial to mental health in men, albeit not through omega-3 fatty acids. They suggest that fish may instead provide some kind of high-quality protein or minerals. However, the other explanation is that fish is just correlated with depression because eating fish is a marker for some other lifestyle factors:
The observed association between high fish consumption and reduced risk for depressive episodes in the men may indicate complex associations between depression and lifestyle which we were not able to take into account. Diet and fish consumption may be a proxy for factors that have effect on mental well-being particularly in men. A plausible explanation is that fish consumption in men is a surrogate marker for some underlying but yet unidentified lifestyle factors that protect against depression.I think it's fair to say that the jury is still out on the benefits of omega 3's. As a vegetarian I don't eat fish and I have a history of depression and take not one, but two, antidepressants, so maybe I'm living proof that a lack of fish is a bad thing. I don't think so, though, as I took omega 3 supplements for a few months and felt no different. I gave up because they were costing me £30 a box.
Suominen-Taipale, A., Partonen, T., Turunen, A., Männistö, S., Jula, A., & Verkasalo, P. (2010). Fish Consumption and Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Relation to Depressive Episodes: A Cross-Sectional Analysis PLoS ONE, 5 (5) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010530
17 comments:
I agree that it's important to look at fish as a whole food rather than assume that any benefits are always due to the omega-3's. There could be effects of fish intake on depression and cognition, but omega-3 supplements won't necessarily harness those effects.
yeah, I remember when the harvard guy who's behind omegebrite came for grand rounds several years ago selling his product... it all seemed too good to be true
Here in Ireland, Omacor (fancy Omega three on prescription) is being prescribed a lot off label for depression.
I need to find the marketing genius who managed to sell health-food supplements to the Government eskimos at a sky high fee and shake their damn hand.
It's not enough to gorge on Omega-3 you should also reduce the Omega-6 because they are competing on the same metabolic pathway.
Anyway, the "big science" obsession with the single significant factor about anything and everything is absolutely daft.
Nature (most specially in biology) is a HUGELY complicated mess and trying to reduce it to a few simplistic models will always fail to give "statistically significant" results.
What works for some will not work for others and what work in some circumstances will not work in others, it may even gets the opposite results!
I am a depresive person and my improvements do not depend on the amount of fish I eat.
jld,
Your comment on the complexity of biology is well taken. Hopefully we are all learning the perils of the reductionist approach. However, "reducing it to a few simplistic models" very often DOES give statistically significant results! The flaw in the reductionist approach is not that it never yields anything; it is that science must often be done out of naturalistic context; e.g., cells in a petri dish instead of an organism. The key to making use of reductionist science is to take those significant experiments and slowly build them back into a more naturalistic environment and test again.
I fear that comments such as yours encourage the public perspective that "basic science" is useless! We must do science the way we know how, which is one step at a time.
LOL. I take great pleasure in pointing out that SSRIs are no more than placebos with acknowledged side effects! At least, such clinical trials as we're allowed to see tend to see the drugs demonstrating greater efficacy (*on the occasions when they do demonstrate greater efficacy* - sometimes placebo does better), by a clinicaly negligible 1-2 points on Hamilton.
So, next time, one feels the need for a change of drug, I suggest a product that's been on the market for years, and which Mars looks set to cash in on, anytime, now: M&Ms. I mean, there're so many colours, there's got to be one to suit every taste!
Joking aside, I know that it's regarded as unethical to prescribe placebos, which is just as well for the pharmaceutical industry. However, if one accepted the suggestion that a pack of M&Ms was an instant cure for depression, then that is exactly what it would be. It's waking hypnosis.
Matt
I don't think there's any substantive evidence that omega-3's do much for mental health, but there is a very substantial body of evidence suggesting a positive role in cardiovascular health. So yeah, you may not want to take omega-3's for depression, but they do seem to be among the best supplements you could take for physical health (and are the only food supplement I personally take regularly, for that reason).
@Tal and @This Scientist
Are you misinformed or just exercising preventive stupidity?
I agree with the author's conclusions about fish oil. I am not a vegetarian and take SSRI's for 20 years now. I do take fish oil but not for 'mental' effects but for empirically proven (with me as sole participant) beneficial effects on blood fat distribution.
BTW, I am not dismissing science, I am dismissing physics envy.
They suggest that fish may instead provide some kind of high-quality protein or minerals
Or a vitamin?
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and depressive symptoms in older women and men.
"Our findings suggest that hypovitaminosis D is a risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in older persons"
Milaneschi, Y. et al. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism (2010). URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2010-0347.
healthy diet & exercise->high protein->lots of fish->good physical self image->less depression
happy person-> people enjoy being around happy people-> get a better job->more wealth->more expensive foods consumed->more fish
Tal: Fair enough. I take a multivitamin, and I would like to take omega 3's just to be better safe sorry, but as I said in the post, they are expensive (especially the vegetarian ones, which are made from some plant oil not fish oil).
Fish oil has anti-inflammatory properties. To the degree, a depression is fed by inflammation (from a bad diet, for instance), it might reverse some depression.
Overall, however, this study shows again that there is no substitute for the whole real food...
Alexa Fleckenstein M.D., physician, author.
You give me hope anonymous. I had knee joint inflammation from too much pounding on the pavement. Now I'm having physical therapy (Dallas, Texas) twice a week. I'll start eating fish. Thanks.
The more we eat healthy dishes, the more we'll be able to fight for these diseases. As you can see, people with stressful activities and who are not living a healthy lifestyle are more prone to different kinds of illness. Aside from eating and living vigorously, medicines and supplements that have gone into careful near infrared stimulation, can also be help in keeping you in good condition.
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