Article Summary #6

Author Unknown. Fish oil supplements 'beat psychotic mental illness'. BCC News. 2 Feb 2010.

Findings suggest that taking fish oil supplements can hold off mental illness in people with a high risk of them. A three month study was done where the supplement was taken and appeared to be as effective as drugs, cutting the psychotic illness by a quarter. Researchers believe that omega 3 not only has benefit for healthy hearts, but beneficial effects for the brain. The study authors, who remain unnamed, say that finding this treatment gives hope that psychotic disorders for alternatives to antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic drugs are intoxicating and can have serious side effects, which leads to people having to not be able to take them, where fish oil supplements are easily tolerated.

An international team tested 81 people who had a high risk of developing psychosis. High risk meant that there was a strong family history of schizophrenia or similar disorders or the person had already developed mild symptoms of the conditions. In the study, half the individuals took fish oil supplements for 12 weeks, and the other half took a placebo, neither of the groups knowing which treatment they were receiving. The results, after following these participants for a year, were that two in the fish oil group developed a psychotic disorder, and eleven in the placebo group. Based on these results, it was estimated that for every four people treated over a year for psychosis, one high risk adult could be prevented from developing it. Researchers believe that the omega 3 fatty acids found in the supplements can alter the signaling to and from the brain with beneficial effects.