Depression
So can high grade ethyl EPA fish oil help with depression
and low moods, lets take a look at the evidence. In one
study involving 20 people with recurrent depression, researchers
studied the effects of the specific omega 3 fatty acid known
as pure EPA.
Patients involved in this study randomly received either
the ethyl EPA fish oil capsule or a sugar pill in addition
to the anti depressant medication they were taking. After
only four weeks, six out of ten patients receiving EPA had
significantly reduced symptoms of depression.
The leading researcher in this study Boris Nements said
?the effect of the fatty acid EPA was significant from week
two of treatment?he also noted that ?the symptoms of depressed
mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness and insomnia had all
improved by week three.?
This particular study was carried out at the University
of the Negev in Israel and was published in the American
journal of psychiatry 2002.
Another very high profile study using the essential fatty
acid pure EPA was carried out in Scotland by doctors Peet
and horribin. This study involved seventy patients who were
suffering from depression that was persisting despite ongoing
treatment with standard antidepressant drugs.
The study lasted twelve weeks, and the background anti
depressant drugs the patients were receiving was not altered
during the trial. The results showed that the patients taking
EPA showed significant improvement after only four weeks
in all symptoms of depression, when compared to the group
who were administered a dummy pill.
This study was published in the Archives of general Psychiatry.
Pure Ethyl EPA
Omega 3 fish oil is high in two key compounds DHA and EPA.
In both studies mentioned above they used ultra pure ethyl
EPA that contained zero DHA. The reason for this was that
they found that the purer the compound of EPA then the more
effective it seemed to be.
The brain has much more DHA than EPA but the studies found
that EPA is much more important when it comes to responses
to nerve stimulation. It appeared that the DHA maybe more
important for structure and the EPA for function.
Blood samples taken from people in the USA, Europe, Australia
and Japan showed that depressed people have especially low
levels of EPA, when compared to blood samples of people
who were not suffering from low moods or depression.
The lead researches from the study in Scotland both concluded
that EPA is the most important essential fatty acid in the
treatment of depression.
These findings are backed up with two randomised controlled
trials from Sheffield and Baylor universities involving
DHA only, which showed no improvements in the symptoms of
depression. In fact the results were significant and showed
the DHA controlled groups to be slightly worse than the
placebo controlled groups.
Conclusion
People all over the western world are successfully using
pure ethyl EPA without the DHA to treat depression and related
disorders.
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Click here for Omega 3 EPA Fish Oil Supplement
About The Author
Dave mcevoy: A great resource for high grade omega 3 Ethly
EPA , with a 90% concentrate of EPA and Zero DHA visit http://www.mind1st.co.uk
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