Heart Health and Depression: Linked Through Omega-3s?
In his book, the Omega-3 Connection, Dr. Andrew Stoll theorized a link between depression and heart disease. This link was also studied by Dr. Joseph Hibblen at the U.S.’s National Institutes of Health. Now researchers in Australia are looking into these thoughts in more depth:
A group of Australian researchers thinks there could be links between depression and heart disease. They note that people with depression are more likely to develop heart problems than individuals without depression. When they do, they suffer more and are more likely to die than people who are not depressed. Interestingly, low omega-3 fatty acid status is often present in heart disease and depression. Moreover, when people with heart disease or depression increase their intake of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, their condition often improves.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales point out that there are reasonable explanations for how the metabolism of omega-3s could affect both conditions. So, they decided to look at the omega-3 fatty acid status in patients with acute coronary syndrome according to whether the patients had depression or not. Acute coronary syndrome includes symptoms such as acute ischemia (restricted blood supply) in the heart muscle and angina pectoris (acute chest pain). Patients were assessed for depressive symptoms shortly after enrolment in the study and had blood samples taken for EPA and DHA measurements. Twelve of 97 patients met the criteria for depression. At first, there seemed to be no relationship between EPA or DHA in the blood plasma and the occurrence of depression, but upon close inspection of the data, one depressed patient had omega-3 levels far above the average of the others. That patient had been consuming fish oil supplements, so those values were omitted from the analysis.
Total omega-3s and DHA in the blood plasma were significantly lower in the heart patients with depression than in the non-depressed patients. EPA concentrations were not associated with depression. It is known that the heart accumulates DHA but not EPA. These observations do not tell us whether the two conditions are actually linked, but they suggest the possibility. It could be that having too little DHA increases the chance of developing either heart problems or depression and, if one develops, the possibility of developing the other increases. Regularly eating fish, one of the best sources of EPA and DHA, could save headaches and heartaches.
SOURCE: Fats of Life
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