May 3, 2009
Palm Springs Sunny and Hot
Flax Oil and Mood Disorders
There isn’t a person living today who won’t benefit from omega-3 fatty acids, a type of essential fatty acid found most abundantly in some kinds of seafood and flax. However, persons suffering from depression, alcoholism, attention deficit disorder, impulsive and violent behavior or emotional hostility can particularly benefit by bringing more omega-3 fatty acids into their diet. In some of the most amazing research done today, scientists have discovered that the type of fat one consumes is “inextricably linked with your state of mind.”
Yes, beyond fluoxetine (Prozac), St. John’s wort or other synthetic or natural medicines, one will never truly overcome depression, violent behavior or other mood disorders without adequate intake of omega-3 fatty acids. It may be extraordinary to think but is truthful to say these essential fats may be as important as medical drugs or natural medicines when it comes to relieving mood disorders.
The brain is comprised of some 60 percent fat. However, this isn’t the kind of fat found in the area of the abdomen, thighs or buttocks. This is structural fat that forms three-dimensional cell membranes and governs cellular function. What’s more, the nerve cells of the brain are extremely rich in omega-3 fatty acids.. In fact, the brains nerve cells contain five times more omega-3 fatty acids than red blood cells. However, the modern western diet is severely depleted in omega-3 fatty acids. Thus, the nerve cells of depressed or violent persons may be starved of this essential fat.
Early Research Findings
Dr. Donald O. Rudin must be given credit for launching the early research into the impact of omega-3 fatty acids on mental health. The former director of the Department of Molecular Biology at Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Dr. Rudin began experimenting with flaxseed oil in the early 1980’s, at which time he performed a clinical trial with 44 patients with various mental disorders. Providing from two to three tablespoons a day of flax, he found the results to be astounding. Within two hours of providing some patients the flax oil he observed that their “mood is improved and depression is lifted.”
One patient experienced dramatically improved moods. Dr.. Rudin says, “Three days after starting on 3 tablespoons of flaxseed oil daily, she developed a marked sense of increased physical energy and unique exuberance.” This finding was replicated in varying degree among most of the patients. By six to eight weeks, most of them were sleeping better, more energetic and less anxious and depressed. Switching the patients to other types of fats (i.e., omega-6 fatty acids which are overly prevalent in the modern American diet) resulted in a return of their symptoms.
Are you presently taking cholesterol-lowering drugs? Consuming omega-3 fatty acid rich foods and supplementation with specific omega-3 fatty acid supplements may be critically important for men and women who are on a class of cholesterol drugs called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (also known as statins). These drugs indiscriminately lower blood lipids so rapidly that the brain appears to become starved of missing essential fatty acids. Some 15 percent of psychiatric drug reactions could be attributed to such drug reactions. Further clinical evidence incriminates cholesterol-lowering therapy and low cholesterol levels with increased risk for suicide. All of this may be attributed to depleted omega-3 fatty acids.
One’s cholesterol levels can be used to predict high or low levels of such essential fatty acids. Thus, cholesterol levels are indirect surrogate markers for lower levels of essential fatty acids and the feel-good neurotransmitter chemical, serotonin.
Essential Fatty Acids for Almost Every Common Mood Disorder
Could it be that essential fatty acid levels play a role in almost all of our most common mood disorders? The evidence seems to say yes.
Depression: Our first clue comes from epidemiological work that has found the lowest rates of depression worldwide seem to be correlated with the amount of fish consumed per capita. Seafood and flax oil are the most well known sources of omega-3 fatty acids. It is also known that depressed patients have very low levels of a type of omega-3 fatty acid known as eicosapentaneoic acid (EPA), in their plasma and red blood cells. Cutting edge research has also recently pinpointed marked depletions of omega-3 fatty acids in phospholipid membranes of red blood cells (which are thought to hold similar fatty acid concentrations as in nerve cell membranes).
Postpartum Depression
It is known that women have a some six fold increased risk for serious mood disorders following childbirth. This risk generally remains quite high for at least two years. Because breast feeding women are passing on their essential fatty acids to their newborns, it is quite common for researchers to observe depleted maternal omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to the normal brain development of the newborn, especially during the last three months of pregnancy when the brain of the unborn baby increases threefold, notes Artemis Simopolous, M.D., one of the worlds leading experts on omega-3 fatty acids and human health. If women neglect to take in enough such essential fatty acids, the unborn baby will rob the mother of these nutrients from her own brain tissues. Modern laboratory testing shows new mothers have only half the normal blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Nursing mothers may have even lower levels of essential fatty acids, unless they supplement. No wonder, it used to be common practice for women to take cod liver oil during pregnancy! Scientists at the esteemed Mayo Clinic note, “The mental apparatus of the coming generation is developed in [the womb] and the time to begin supplementation is before conception. A normal brain cannot be made without an adequate supply of omega-3 fatty acids, and there may be no later opportunity to repair the effects of an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency once the nervous system is formed.”
Impulsive, Violent Behavior
There are many theories on the link between diet and the environment and antisocial behavior. Genetics and environmental poisoning with lead, manganese and other contaminants are two influences on violent behavior. However, studies indicate that essential fatty acids play an important role. One study found that violent criminals have much lower levels of a type of omega-3 fatty acids than persons without a history of violence. “A similar phenomenon has been observed in primates,” notes Dr. Simopolous. “Feeding male money monkeys a diet with a high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (33 to 1) has resulted in more slapping, grappling, pushing, and biting.” In yet another study, it shows that normal people given omega-3 fatty acids can also reduce their hostility level as a result of the stresses of daily life, adds Dr. Simopolous. In this study, Japanese scientists gave either omega-3 fatty acids or placebo to college students. During examination week, students given the natural medicine exhibited much more measured goodwill compared to those students receiving the placebo who scored higher on tests designed to measure hostility.
Finally, persons with a history of violent, impulsive behaviors and those with nonviolent behavior were studied for their levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a member of the omega-3 fatty acid family. Violent persons had significantly higher lifetime violence and hostility ratings and lower concentrations of 5-HIAA than nonviolent subjects, according to research from the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland.
Heart Disease-Depression
In past issues of The Doctor’s Prescription for Healthy Living and Health Perspectives, we have explored the connection between healthy blood pressure and flax capsules. Part of the answer as to why flax oil capsules are so excellent for immediately lowering blood pressure may be due to their ability to help people deal with daily stress. In one study, men with high blood pressure were given extremely tough math and verbal skill tests to perform with concomitant rises in blood pressure, but when the same men received four tablespoons of flax, the rise in their blood pressure was much smaller. These men also experienced reduced levels of triglyercides, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol with increases in beneficial high density lipoprotein cholesterol.
It has also long been known that both depressed or hostile persons are far more likely to die of heart disease. There may be an underlying link between heart disease, depression and hostility that until recently escaped the world’s best medical sleuths. Some scientists speculate that depressed, hostile or self-destructive persons are less likely to regularly take their medications or perhaps it is the overproduction or cortisol and other stress hormones which have a negative effect on circulatory health. Another explanation may well be an underlying deficiency of omega- 3 fatty acids, which is common to each of these conditions.
Here is a free report on Omega 3s.
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