Fish Oil & Depression (video)

Fish oil with its omega 3 fatty acids is considered important for brain development and health. Occasionally a person can have a paradoxical reaction and have negative effects like increased depression or anxiety. In these cases, it is important to make sure the quality of fish oil is a high as possible, check the DHA to EPA ratio-you may do better with a high DHA/EPA ratio. Also make sure you are not having a reaction to a medication or maybe it is just stress of some type.

Check out the video and text below to learn more.

You have probably read much about the benefits of taking fish oil. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil have been found to have strong anti-inflammatory properties, can be a potent activator of the pre-frontal cortex and an enhancer of neurotransmission. Therefore, it follows that fish oil would be recommended to help treat anxiety and depression and help reduce brain fog. And this is normally the case.

Of course some people will have a paradoxical reaction. I am writing this article to make you aware of that possible reaction in case you are in this minority group.

Personal Experience

Before I talk about that, I need to mention my own experience and telomere testing. Telomere testing gives a person an idea of their aging process and disease resistance. I checked this several years ago and found that although I was about 65 or so, my telomeres had me at about 33 years old from the aging and disease resistance point of view. About that time, I went off fish oil for a year as it seemed to aggravate depression symptoms.

I redid my telomeres after that year and found that according to them, I had aged about 35 years in that one year. I had long forgotten about the fish oil so began to scratch my head and wondered what had changed. It came to me after a couple of weeks that it might be the fish oil. I took about 6 Nordic EPA DHA for about 6 months along with some nicotinamide riboside and retested. I actually tested better than the first test, that is my telomeres indicated that I was less than 33 in DNA terms. I had regained my 35 years back.

This is why I don't think it appropriate to just say, forget the fish oil. It can still prevent problems down the road if you can get it dialed in.

Paradoxical Reaction

By paradoxical I mean that the supplement has the opposite reaction that it might have for most people. It this is you; you might experience more anxiety and depression and other negative brain reactions. I personally became aware of this when I began taking Metagenics SPM Active that contains a concentrate of the primary inflammatory ingredients of fish oil. The recommended dose that has been working for so many people was to begin with 4 caps. I soon learned that even one was one too many for me and the depression that followed was not subtle.

So, I began to wonder if basic fish oil might do the same. I have been taking fish oil for 30+ years and have never taken a cheap, low grade fish oil. Could fish oil contribute to depression and anxiety?

Not Enough to Go Around

Some anecdotal evidence suggests that this might indeed be the case. I should emphasize that this is most likely just a paradoxical reaction in a few cases and that most people will benefit from taking fish oil. I remember reading an article some years ago that suggested that the availability of fish oil for the human population was a limiting factor for the brain health of our species. The hypothesis was that there was not enough to go around and without these important essential fatty acids, the brain would not be able to develop properly, and we would see an increasing amount of aberrant behavior. Maybe this would explain, at least, in part where people blow themselves up in a marketplace thinking they are doing God's will.

Some Ideas to Help

If you experience depression or other negative reactions from fish oil, first, consider some other factors before you blame the omega 3 fatty acids.

• 1.Fish oil quality. Fish oil wholesalers have different grades of fish oil to sell. Each vitamin company will pay the wholesaler according to quality they choose and the end price to you will be reflected by that chosen quality. So if you see a giant bottle of fish oil capsules for $12.99 in your big box store, the probability that it is of very low quality. The good stuff will cost you but be worth it in the end.
• 2.The DHA to EPA ratio can also be a factor. Some people will do better with high EPA to DHA and others vice versa. Nordic Naturals ProOmega caps are about a 4:3 EPA to DHA ratio and Apex Energetics Brain-E DHA is more like a 10:1 DHA to EPA. Apex also has a vegetarian version called Phyto Brain E.
• 3.You might be having a reaction to meds or other supplements you are taking. Maybe it isn't the fish oil at all. You will have to do some experimenting to see if it is that doobie you smoke every day or maybe the anti-anxiety med. Too many possibilities to list so it will be up to you to figure this out.
• 4.Consider any new stresses that might have appeared at the same time as the addition of a particular fish oil. Maybe making a couple of changes in your daily life might lower your depression. Again, this will take a little detective work.

Why might fish oil have an impact. A few theories have to do with acetylcholine, amines, brain rewiring and/or neurotransmitter balance. I was going to spend some time talking about each of these but as I researched more, I don't think it is worth the time and effort. It would be nice to have really good information about how omega 3 fatty acids affect the brain, but we just don't have that just yet. Just know that these important fatty acids can have profound effects on the brain.

It will make more sense to give you some guidelines about what to do if you suspect that fish oil is making you feel worse. You will have to engage in some detective work to learn if fish oil is the culprit and if so, is it dose dependent or is it an absolute no-no for you.

Suggested Steps

First quit taking all fish oil products and give your brain a few weeks to equilibrate. You can then begin with small doses of a standard formula like Nordic Naturals ProOmega and see how you do over a few days. If the symptoms come back quickly with this quality formula, quit again and give your brain another week or so to equilibrate. If after 3 or 4 weeks without fish oil and you feel the same, you should look at other factors as mentioned a couple of paragraphs above.

Next you might try a different formula that is higher in DHA like Nordic Naturals Algae DHA. You should know in a short time if your body just prefers a DHA weighted formula with just a touch of EPA. If things seem better now, you will experiment with dosages and maybe frequency. For example, you might do better by taking your DHA a week and then taking a couple of days off or something similar. You might even take a week off each month. These are just ideas. Your experience will likely be unique.

Some might find that supplementing with L-tyrosine will help lower depression especially if you have acetylcholine issues. Again, you will have to experiment to see. We often recommend NeuroScience Travacor for this.

Sometimes supplement recommendations are fairly simple and sometimes more complex. Most of the time recommending fish oil falls in the simple category but occasionally we do run across someone whose mood state worsens when others are feeling better with the same supplements.

The Reaction is Often Variable

I have found that the link between my depression and fish oil isn't a constant. Sometimes, I seem to tolerate the Nordic EPA DHA just fine and other times not. I also found that krill oil caused an even stronger depression reaction than fish oil. So much for that idea for me.

At the present I take a couple of Nordic fish oil gel caps a few days a week. I want to get it in and haven't found any other way to tolerate it more than that after years of trying. I won't give up but in case you find yourself in a similar situation, know you aren't entirely alone.

Hopefully for those suffering from bouts of depression this blog will be helpful in giving you some ideas about how to better dial in your supplements, so you feel your best.