Omega-3s may alleve depression
By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY

Women may be able to significantly lower their chances of becoming depressed during pregnancy and postpartum months by eating fish that's rich in omega-3 fatty acids, says a large National Institutes of Health study.

The research, tracking depression in 14,541 women from their eighth week of pregnancy until the babies were 8 months old, was reported Tuesday at the American Psychiatric Association meeting in San Francisco.

Those who ate no seafood, the key source for omega-3 acids, had nearly twice the rate of depression as women who ate about 10 ounces of fish daily, says psychiatrist Joseph Hibbeln, chief of the outpatient clinic at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The study took account of every factor ever linked to depression during pregnancy and post-partum months, Hibbeln says.

The more omega-3 acids women received from eating seafood, the less likely they were to be depressed.

An estimated 10% to 15% of women suffer depression during pregnancy or in the baby's infancy; most aren't treated, says Lee Cohen of the Center for Women's Mental Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

It makes sense that omega-3 acids would be needed during pregnancy, Hibbeln says. Since babies require them for brain development, they draw the fatty acids out of mothers' bodies. But pregnant women need omega-3 for their own mental health and could become deficient.

The Food and Drug Administration has advised pregnant women not to eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish because they're high in mercury. But other kinds of fish rich in omega-3s are believed to be safe, such as farm-raised salmon, lake trout, common mackerel and sardines.

Eating fish two or three times a week or taking a 1-gram omega-3 pill a day may help prevent depression, Hibbeln says, but only a study that randomly gives depressed pregnant women placebos or omega-3 could bolster the findings.

The new findings "are a clue that omega-3s may help. But it's premature to recommend supplements based on a single study," says endocrinologist David Heber of UCLA Medical School.

Depressed pregnant women are more likely to deliver premature or smaller normal-term infants with lower Apgar scores, which reflect overall health, Cohen says.

Many pregnant women won't take antidepressants. Studies are limited, but there's no evidence that they cause fetal death, significant birth defects or cognitive or behavior problems, says Katherine Wisner, an expert on depression and pregnancy at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics in Pittsburgh. "We always have to weigh the benefits of treatment against the risks of staying depressed."