Feeling better with fish oil

Science News, June 5, 1999 by B.B.

Preliminary evidence suggests that a nutritional supplement, omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils, helps stabilize the volatile moods of people suffering from manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder.

Omega-3 fatty acids may share biochemical actions with lithium and valproate, say psychiatrist Andrew L. Stoll of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and his colleagues. Those medications are commonly used, with varying success, to treat manic-depressive patients.

The researchers recruited 30 patients receiving drugs for manic depression. Over 4 months, 14 of the volunteers also received high daily doses of omega-3 fatty acids in capsules containing fish-oil concentrate. The rest took olive-oil placebos.

Initially, all patients showed mild symptoms of mania or depression. Eleven of those receiving omega-3 fatty acids improved or maintained their emotional condition during the study, compared with 6 of the 16 patients taking placebos, the scientists report in the May ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY.

More intensive studies of the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on manic depression are needed, comment psychiatrist Joseph R. Calabrese of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland and his colleagues in a commentary accompanying the study.