April 25 - Benefits of Omega-3s Still Unclear for Bipolar Disorder

Despite intriguing findings that omega-3 fatty acid supplements could alleviate depression symptoms, there is still not enough evidence to say whether omega-3s are useful treatments for people with bipolar disorder, according to a review of recent studies.

Nevertheless, omega-3s deserve further study, since they seem to have no serious side effects and most experts recommend the supplements for people with heart disease and some immune disorders, say authors Paul Montgomery, PhD, and Alex Richardson, PhD, of the University of Oxford.

Montgomery and Richardson found five studies on the effects of omega-3 supplements for bipolar disorder, but only one study of 75 patients provided enough data on the therapy’s outcomes for the researchers to analyze. Patients in the study had less severe depression symptoms while taking the supplements, but omega-3s did not affect their mania symptoms. Patients with bipolar disorder can cycle between periods of mania—elevated mood and energy—and depression.

The review of studies appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration. Systematic reviews like this one draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

Montgomery says the review makes it clear that there is not enough evidence yet to determine how omega-3s affect bipolar disorder, “and what evidence is currently available is of such a varied and oftentimes questionable nature that no reliable conclusions may be drawn.”

Bipolar disorder is among the top 30 causes of disability worldwide. Clinicians prescribe a variety of mood-stabilizing drugs to treat the complex psychiatric disorder, but the medications rarely cause symptoms to disappear completely and they can have serious side effects.

Recently, a growing handful of studies have suggested that omega-3s can be beneficial for other mood disturbance disorders such as clinical depression, personality disorders, and schizophrenia.

Different versions of the fatty acids are in vegetable oils such as flax seed oil and in fish oils. Researchers are still unclear how omega-3s work in the body, but they might “play key roles in brain structure and function,” Montgomery says.

For the moment, the few studies available suggest that patients should use omega-3s along with prescribed mood stabilizers, Montgomery says.

Joseph Hibbeln, MD, who heads the nutritional neurochemistry division of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, says he and his colleagues “strongly recommend” that patients with psychiatric disorders not take omega-3 supplements “in lieu of established psychiatric treatment options.”

Source: Health Behavior News Service

(View Daily news Archive)