May 17, 2000
CHICAGO (AP) - Eat fish, be happy?
A large study in Finland found evidence that people who ate fish less than
once a week ran a 31 percent higher chance of mild to severe depression
than people who ate it more often.
That's probably because fish contains omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids, or PUFA, said psychiatrist Dr. Antti Tanskanen of the University of
Kuopio in Finland. But it's too early to recommend that people eat fish or
take PUFA to avoid depression, he said.
Tanskanen presented his study Tuesday at the annual meeting of the
American Psychiatric Association. It was paid for by his university, he
said.
The evidence was statistically significant only for women. But
Tanskanen said he believes the effect also applies to men, for whom the
results leaned in the same direction.
The study involved a random sample of 3,204 adults from four areas of
Finland. They filled out a standard questionnaire to measure depressive
symptoms and indicated how often they ate fish.
About 30 percent ate fish less than once a week, and so were classified
as "infrequent" fish consumers. And 28 percent of the overall
group reported symptoms suggesting mild or more severe depression, with
most in the mild category.
Among women, signs of depression appeared in 34 percent of the
infrequent-fish-eater group, compared with 27 percent of the other women.
In men, the difference was 30 percent vs. 28.5 percent.
The overall difference of 31 percent emerged after results from the two
sexes were combined, and the rates were mathematically adjusted to remove
the effect of factors such as age and smoking.
"It's very suggestive," but such studies can't really show
what causes the differences they find, noted Dr. Alexander Glassman of
Columbia University in New York.
Just last year, other researchers reported that capsules of omega-3
fatty acids helped treat manic-depression. And in 1998, one of Tanskanen's
co-authors reported that countries with higher per-capita fish consumption
tended to have lower rates of major depression.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
