January 29th, 2011 | Posted in Emotions+Stress
OMEGA-3 AND DEPRESSION.
IS DEPRESSION INFLAMMATION?
An inflammation theory of depression may begin to explain a number of puzzling observations about this disease that most contemporary theories—entirely focused on neurotransmitters—have been dutifully ignoring.
Nancy had symptoms of sadness and hopelessness, lack of energy, fatigue, impaired concentration, no appetite and even weight loss. All, her family doctor insisted, typical symptoms of depression. Later she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Several types of cancer induce widespread inflammatory reactions well before the tumour becomes large enough for detection. That inflammatory state, which is sometimes subtle, may well be responsible for the symptoms of depression that precede the diagnosis of cancer.
In fact, depression is common in all physical illnesses that have a diffuse inflammatory component, such as pneumonia, flu, typhoid fever, cerebrovascular accidents (‘strokes’), myocardial infarctions and autoimmune disorders.
Stress in and of itself causes inflammatory reactions which is why it also worsens acne, arthritis and most autoimmune diseases. Since a long period of stress often precedes depression, it may well be that depressive symptoms are caused directly by stress-related inflammation.
An antidepressant effect from Omega 3 oils requires a consumption of between 1 and 10g per day of the combination DHA and EPA – the two forms of omega-3 commonly found in fish oil.
An excess of omega-6 in the body leads to inflammation reactions and cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary artery disease, myocardial infarctions and strokes—but also cancer, arthritis and even Alzheimer’s disease. It is conceivable that depression and cardiovascular illnesses both increase together in societies with a strong imbalance in the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in the diet.
Studies
(1) Benjamin felt tired and listless although previously he had always had exceptional reserves of energy. He first though it might be a lingering cold-but this was no simple viral infection. He felt incompetent and exposed at work. He found everybody else better informed, more creative and more dynamic than he was. He convinced himself that it was only a matter of time before his inadequacies would be revealed. Because the firm he worked for produced a commonly prescribed antidepressant, he decided to prescribe the medicine for himself, felt better but he still had some fluctuations in his condition and so doubled the dose. He thought his troubles were over, but …(leaving out the details), he entered a period of misbehaviour both at work and at home, sexual harassment at work, irritability and bullying at home, eventually losing both his job and his marriage.
Once he had his back to the wall he was willing to go to a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, characterised by periods of depression and ‘manic’ phases, during which he lost his bearings to such an extent that his moral and financial judgements were dictated by a hedonistic need for instant gratification. These manic phases are often first set off by an antidepressant. As soon as he stopped the medicine and took a tranquillizer, his moods and his excess energy calmed down. For years he tried different medications that only succeeded in plunging him back into mania or depression.
Everything changed the day his psychiatrist, desperately seeking a breakthrough, suggested he try a treatment described in a study published by the principal periodical of experimental psychiatry, the Archives of General Psychiatry. He agreed unhesitatingly to take nine capsules a day of fish-oil extract- three before each of his three daily meals. This new tactic was a turning point. In a few weeks his depression had vanished completely. Even more striking, in the course of the following year, was the fact that he had only one period of a few days during which he felt over-energetic. Two years later, he now takes no other medicine than his fish-oil capsules, and is doing much better.
2) At Harvard, Dr. Andrew Stoll was the first to prove the efficacy of using omega-3 fish oils in stabilizing mood swings and treating depression in manic-depressives. The results were so convincing that researchers stopped conducting the study after only four months. The ‘control’ group patients—those who got an olive oil placebo—relapsed at an astoundingly higher rate than those in the omega-3 group. Depriving the control group of omega-3 any longer could have been a breach of medical ethics!
(3) Another example was of a seriously depressed student, talking about suicide (his score on a standard measure of depression was the highest his psychiatrist had ever seen). After ten months of antidepressant medication, his psychiatrist added a few grams per day of a purified fish oil with the aim of regenerating his neural membranes. Nine months later, all the symptoms of his seven-year depression had disappeared. His score on the severity of depression scale was now zero.
(4) Another study from the UK shows that the entire range of depressive symptoms improves with omega-3 fatty acids— sadness as well as fatigue, anxiety as well as insomnia, decreased libido as well as any persistent thoughts that life is not worth living. Still another study, found that in young women who are ‘extremely moody’, ‘often feel out of control’ and find relationships ‘painful and difficult’, an omega-3 supplement helped reduce depressive symptoms, as well as aggressive attitudes.
So why are there not more studies to discover the wider benefits for depression? One confounding factor is that fish oils or flax seeds are natural products and, as such, they cannot be patented. Because of this simple economic fact, they are not of much interest to the large pharmaceutical companies that pay for the majority of scientific studies of depression.
