Omega 3 Cures Depression. That Can't Be True Can It?

Omega 3 Cures Depression. That Can't Be True Can It?
by Peter Bertonich

It's a terrible illness, depression. Those who suffer from it are on a constant treadmill of visits to health professionals, pharmaceuticals and ups and downs. The good news is that evidence is mounting that something as simple as increasing Omega 3 cures depression, or at the least there is a link between increasing Omega 3 and depression relief.

It was around the 1990s that evidence started to emerge that showed a strong link between the intake of Omega 3 and depression levels in various societies. It was found that in societies with a lower intake of seafood depression levels were higher and vice versa. Seafood is the main food that contains Omega3 fats and so intake of seafood increases intake of these healthy fats.

And following that various studies were undertaken that have now confirmed a strong link between higher Omega 3 intake and lower depression. Of course there is always more to be studied, but to date results are very encouraging.

As you would expect the new studies raise new questions, like how much Omega 3 should we have in our diet, and how the intake of Omega 3 affects people already using anti depressants, and these studies are continuing.

But there is good news right now for depression sufferers. Those who have depression know that there can be strong and negative side effects from taking many of the traditional anti depressants commonly prescribed. But there are no observed negative side effects from increasing the intake of Omega 3 fats, and there are other positive health benefits.

There is indeed strong evidence that taking daily Omega 3 supplements is extremely positive for many areas of the health, and this is supported by the American Heart Association. They recommend minimum levels of Omega 3 intake as fish in the diet or as supplements.

There is good evidence of a range of heart benefits from Omega 3 supplementation, and there are no significant reports of any negative side effects.

There is one issue though. It is now clear that the fish in our oceans are contaminated to some degree by various toxins like PCBs, heavy metals and mercury and recommendations are that some fish should not be eaten too often for this reason.

However there are excellent fish oil supplements available on the market that are molecularly distilled, reducing the level of any potential contaminants to zero. The better fish oil supplements have no detectable levels of the major contaminants, and allow us to take our Omega 3 fish oil daily.

So whilst science hasn't yet fully proven that Omega 3 cures depression there are strong health reasons to add daily Omega 3 supplementation to your diet. You'll be healthier generally and the Omega 3 capsules may even cure, or help, your depression.

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