Eat Fish, Get Happy

Sounds fishy, but it’s true. As this story in the Boston Globe reports, evidence from several very different studies suggests that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish like salmon, sardines and tuna can help prevent and treat depression. One the global level, researchers have known for a while that major depression is 60 times more prevalent in countries where little fish is eaten. Two years ago, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 20 people in Israel showed that adding EPA, one of the omega-3 acides, to standard antidepressants significantly decreased depression after three weeks, and a Scottish study of 60 people came to similar conclusions when patients added a 1-gram daily supplement of EPA to their standard treatment. More recently, the Globe reports, researchers from McLean Hospital in Belmont Massachusetts discovered that omega-3 fatty acids, plus uridine, a substance found commonly in meat and other protein-rich foods, prevented depression in rats just as well as antidepressant drugs. Read the whole story here. Overall,