Omega-3: benefits for mood disorders
These products seem to work wonders against mood disorders.
You'd have to be deaf, blind and have lived as a hermit for a year not to know that omega-3s are good for your mood. Throughout the year, they have been in the headlines, and the dietary supplements market has been enriched by numerous products offering these famous essential fatty acids. Proof, if any were needed, that depression, the blues and low spirits trouble our moods, and that happy pills, despite their mass prescription, are not the only answer to unhappiness.
Neuropsychiatry's interest in omega-3s dates back to the 80s and 90s. One of the first human studies concerned the use of omega-3s in bipolar disorder (manic-depressive syndrome). The thirty patients in the study who were on medication were divided into two groups, one receiving a placebo, the other omega 3 for three months. In the placebo group, there were 10 cases of disease aggravation out of 15 patients, compared with only 3 in the omega 3 group.
It would appear that it is EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), an omega-3 found in oily fish, that acts on mood disorders. It's also almost certain that omega-3s prevent seasonal depression by activating melatonin secretion. Last but not least, omega-3s could also prove effective in the treatment of post-partum depression.
Alongside these studies, other clues have reinforced the interest in omega-3s. Epidemiological studies have shown that over the past 50 years or so, in Westernized countries, there has been a parallel increase in depression and major nutritional changes, characterized in particular by a reduction in omega-3 intake. For example, the province of British Columbia experienced a high incidence of depression as its population turned away from fish, a mainstay of the traditional diet.
To take the positive side of life, and get through difficulties with serenity, let's put oily fish and rapeseed oil on the menu. When you're feeling down in the dumps, when the "what's the point" disrupts your initiatives, when you're feeling down in the dumps and your dark thoughts chase away all traces of optimism... think omega 3! A little happiness cure to chase away the dullness and see life in pink!
Source: Doctissimo.fr