• Eating plenty of fish may help reduce the risk of depression.

It is reckoned by the Office for National Statistics that about 20 per cent of us suffer depression. In global terms, depression affects an estimated 350 million people, and is reckoned to become the second leading cause of ill health by 2020 behind cancer.

Divorce and separation according to statistics generate symptoms in all of us experiencing these situations of mild to moderate mental ill health. About 27 per cent are affected this way compared to 20 per cent of those who are single, widowed or cohabiting.

However, we might be able to do something about it by making changes to diet especially where consuming fish is concerned that would benefit us greatly. Eating fish, especially in a Western diet could be a way of reducing feelings of depression.

It’s not a new story as such because it is known that taking fish oil supplements helps alleviate these feelings in studies that were reported back in 1999 (Stoll et al., 1999a & b). This evidence continues to accrue for fish oil supplementation and now research demonstrates links with eating fish itself. Fish oils are mainly composed of omega-3 fatty acids and help in the synthesis and regulation of various brain chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin.

It’s also known that fish consumption is linked to better heart health and a reduction in cardiovascular disease generally and there is plenty of evidence to support this too.

A new study reported by the Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Medical College of Qingdao University, Shandong, China assessed a very large group of 150,000 people that concluded being on a predominantly fish diet reduced the risk of becoming depressed by about 17 per cent compared to those on a ‘low fish diet’. Men benefitted more so from this by 20 per cent as opposed to 16 per cent for women. The investigators studied data from cohort and cross-sectional studies, pooled from a variety of sources of European origin published from 2001 to 2014 to understand the links being made.

The research was published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. The lead author of the study Professor Dongfeng Zhang stated:-

“Higher fish consumption may be beneficial in the primary prevention of depression.”

Eating fish may also be symptomatic of a healthier diet and lifestyle generally because they are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals which provides a higher quality of nutrition. The report doesn’t reveal how much fish people in the higher fish consumption group ate which would have made the evidence more compelling.

Research will continue to investigate the association and whether particular types of fish such as oily fish are important.

References

Stoll, A.L., Severus, W.E., Freeman, M.P., Rueter, S., Zboyan, H.A., Diamond, E., Cress, K.K., Marangell, L.B., (1999a). Omega 3 Fatty Acids in Bipolar Disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 56 pp. 407-412. Stoll, A.L., Locke, C.A., Marangell, L.B., Severus, W.E. (1999b). Omega-3 fatty acids and bipolar disorder: a review. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 60 (5&6) pp. 329-337.

Zhang, D., Fang, L., and Liu, X. (2015) Fish consumption and risk of depression: a meta-analysis. J. Epidemiol. Community Health doi:10.1136/jech-2015-206278