Study on mental health patients shows benefits of omega 3 fish-oils
Psychiatrists say the supplements are rich in omega 3 essential fats needed by the brain to function properly and for people to feel well.
Yesterday, Dublin psychiatrist Dr Malcolm Garland said the diet of the general population was deficient in such nutrients as a result of changes in eating habits over the last 100 years.
“The brain is about 45% fat and science has shown that the proportion of different fats dramatically affect the way the brain functions in terms of ... psychological well-being,” he said.
“The large number of studies carried out with fish oil supplementation have shown the benefits in so many different conditions, and supports the fact that we are deficient in this substance.”
Dr Garland was part of a team which studied the effects of fish oil supplements on a group of psychiatric patients in north Dublin.
Patients had a long-standing history of repeated suicide attempts and alongside routine mental health care were either given fish oil or a harmless substitute known as a placebo.
The tests showed the positive benefits of fish oil on the mental well-being of patients who had taken the supplements against those who had had the placebo.
Dr Garland said the human brain needed a diet balanced in omega 3 oils from fish and omega 6 oils from cooking oil, meat and cereals.
But changes in the human diet over the last century had resulted in a massive imbalance, with omega 6 oils outstripping omega 3 by 20:1 in the diet.
“We are consuming such a huge amount of omega 6, often without realising it, that the amount of omega 3 is significantly deficient in the diet.
“Really we need to eat fish and seafood to get the principal derivatives of omega 3 which are pretty important in the brain.”
The lack of omega 3 oils in the diet was an important public health concern as was the high price of fish and the cost of supplements, Dr Garland added.
