[FWD: Omega-3 Oils found to be as Effective as Antidepressants and are N

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JoAnn Guest <joguest

Fri, 22 Mar 2002 20:12:46 +0000

Melanoma

Omega-3 Oils found to be as Effective as Antidepressants and

Non-Toxic

 

 

 

 

 

 

Omega 3 Oils--

 

as Effective as Antidepressants

and Non-Toxic!

 

 

A Note from Dr. Tracy: In September 1998 the National Institute of

Health conducted a seminar on the effectiveness of Omega 3 oils in

combating manic depression, schizophrenia, depression, hyperactivity,

PMS, etc. Now a new study supports those reports. Although the study

looked only at fish oil, flax seed oil is recommended as it does not

pose a potential toxicity - toxicity due to polluted waters in which

fish are found.

 

One of the finest books on the subject is " Fats that Heal, Fats that

Kill " by Udo Erasmus. Find more info on his book and the oils he

recommends at www.udoerasmus.com.

 

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy

 

May 6, 1999

Fish Oil May Aid Against Manic Depression,

BY MARC KAUFMAN, THE WASHINGTON POST

 

Scientists believe they have found a surprising new ally in their

efforts to understand and treat the sharp mood swings of manic

depression -- the fatty acids of fish oil.

 

A Harvard University clinical trial of 44 patients suffering from

manic, or bipolar, depression had such positive results with fish oil

that the experiment was stopped after four months and all patients

were put on a treatment of 14 capsules per day.

 

" The group taking the fish oil was performing strikingly better than

the placebo group, including significantly longer periods of

remission, " said Andrew L. Stoll, director of the Psychopharmacology

Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital. " A

decision was made to stop the trial on ethical grounds. "

 

Based on those promising findings, Stoll said, the National

Institutes of Health has given preliminary approval for a larger fish-

oil trial starting this summer. That trial, at McLean and Baylor

College of Medicine in Houston, would include 120 people suffering

from manic depression and would last for three years.

 

" If this works, it would be one of the most exciting findings in

psychiatry in the past 20 years, " said Jerry Cott, chief of the

psychopharmacology research program at the National Institute of

Mental Health. " This is the first time we would be testing a

nutritional supplement that appears to be having efficacy about to

the degree of a synthetic medication. "

 

" This could give us real insight into what is the basis of this

psychiatric disorder, " Cott said. " Right now, we have no clue what

it's really about. "

 

In the Harvard study, all the patients continued on their other

medications. About half were also treated with fish-oil capsules,

while the others got olive oil as a placebo. According to Stoll, 11

of the 15 patients taking the fish oil improved after four months,

and only two had a recurrence. Six of 20 on the placebo responded

positively, he said, and 11 had a relapse. Some patients were not

counted because the trial was stopped before they had completed their

four-month treatment.

 

Details of the study will be published in May in a major medical

journal. Stoll presented his findings this month at a meeting of

fatty-acid experts at NIH. Fish oil is especially high in omega-3

fatty acids, a family of long-chained polyunsaturated fats that have

been associated with reduced cardiovascular disease and other health

benefits.

 

The body's highest concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids are in the

eyes and the brain, where neurobiologists believe they are essential

to the proper functioning of cell membranes. If levels of omega-3

fatty acids are too low, they have theorized, then essential chemical

pathways become overwhelmed and mental disorders can occur.

 

The Harvard study was the first significant scientific look at the

effects of fish oil and its fatty acids on manic depression -- which

is estimated to affect between 1 and 2 percent of Americans at some

point in their lives. The disease produces swings from the abnormally

high energy and mood levels of mania to deep depression, and is

generally treated with different drugs than those prescribed for

unipolar depression, the more common form of depression. (An

estimated 20 percent of Americans suffer from some form of depression

during their lifetimes.)

 

But some researchers believe omega-3 fatty acids play an equally

important role in unipolar depression.

 

Joseph Hibbeln of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and

Alcoholism has found a striking correlation between fish consumption

and depression. Societies where people eat a lot of fish, he found,

have markedly lower levels of depression than societies where people

don't eat much fish. He calls his work " suggestive " rather than

conclusive.

 

Stoll said he stumbled across fish oil as a possible treatment of

manic depression when he surveyed the literature on compounds with

effects similar to traditional drugs such as lithium and

valproate. " Everywhere we looked, we came up with omega-3s, " he

said. " I had heard about omega-3s in medical school, but there hadn't

been a lot of attention paid to them since. " While fish oil has long

been used as a safe dietary supplement, doctors warn that it can

oxidize if not properly stored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.drugawareness.org/Ribbon/Alternatives.html

 

 

JoAnn Guest

joguest

Friendsforhealthnaturally

http://canceranswer.homestead.com/AIM.html

theaimcompanies

" Health is not a Medical Issue "

 

Voting Site:

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http://www.thesitefights.com/team28/Receding_Waters/receding1.html

 

 

 

 

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