On March 3, at last week's 64th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver, Sarah Conklin, Ph.D., a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and several colleagues presented a paper that reports on the findings of a recent study into the relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and mood.
The paper, "Plasma Fatty Acids Are Associated With Normative Variation in Mood, Personality and Behavior," explains the findings of a recent study that shows how omega-3 supplementation affected healthy adults. Previous studies have linked low levels of omega-3s to clinical conditions like major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance abuse and attention deficit disorder.
According to the paper's abstract, "In conjunction with published research, these data suggest that dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids may be a determinant of normative variability in affect regulation, impulse control and personality." The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
The study involved 106 hypercholesterolemic, but otherwise healthy, male and female subjects. Researchers supplemented participants' diets with linolenic acid (LA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). They then assayed participants' fasting serum fatty acids via gas chromatography and evaluated the connection to mood determinants based on participant responses to tests that can help determine mood, personality and tendencies toward impulsive behavior. Study participants were not asked to alter their typical diet in any way.
Conklin notes that the people in the study with low blood levels of EPA and DHA were more likely than other participants to report symptoms of mild or moderate depression. However, she unhesitatingly cited the need for more research into this possible relationship before formulating any conclusions.
