January 12, 2006 – People with depression may be able to count on an alternative to antidepressants: a large-scale study will be conducted in Montreal to verify the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids on major depression.
“This study is the largest in the world to evaluate an unconventional treatment for major depression,” says Dr François Lespérance, head of the psychiatry department at the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). He will lead the study in collaboration with other Canadian research centers.
In fact, we plan to recruit 508 men and women with major depression over the next 18 months. Individuals who will receive an omega-3 supplement for eight weeks and who will take a placebo will be randomly determined. As this is a double-blind study, neither the subjects nor the investigators will know which product it is.
The supplement1 tested is composed of fish oil concentrated in eicosapentanoic acid (EPA). This product is manufactured by the European laboratory Isodisnatura, one of the founders of which is the psychiatrist David Servan-Schreiber, author of the book Healing2 which helped popularize omega-3s.
So far, omega-3 of marine origin are the only ones for which certain benefits have been scientifically demonstrated, in particular on cardiovascular disease.
In search of a credible solution
Forr François Lespérance, the limits of antidepressants paved the way for the search for new therapies. We already know that 25% of people with depression say they are looking for alternatives to medication. “It’s normal when we know that even under the best conditions, only 50% of patients respond positively to antidepressants and 20% give them up after a few weeks,” he explains.
Another advantage could result from the study in progress: to advance, within the scientific community, the recognition of natural health products as a therapeutic solution. By this study, Dr Lespérance wants nothing less than “to definitively establish whether omega-3s are effective in treating major depression.”
The results are expected in the fall of 2007.
Foods enriched with omega-3: mostly from marketing!
Omega-3 specialist, epidemiologist and nutritionist Michel Lucas3 raises the fact that Canadian consumers wishing to obtain a food enriched in omega-34 swim in the midst of mystery. “The labeling does not make it possible to distinguish whether the origin of omega-3 is marine or vegetable,” he laments. However, all the studies demonstrating the health benefits of these fatty acids have been carried out using omega-3 of marine origin. “
According to him, very few foods sold in Quebec are enriched with omega-3 of marine origin. “Everything else is enriched with omega-3 of plant origin, such as seeds and flaxseed oil, whose properties have not been scientifically validated,” he concludes.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. The product in question is OM3, which has been available over the counter in Canada since January 2006.
2. Servan-Schreiber, David. Heal stress, anxiety and depression without drugs or psychoanalysis, Editions Robert Laffont, 2003, 302 pages. You can read the review of this book on our site.
3. Michel Lucas is also a researcher attached to the Lucie and André Chagnon Chair for the advancement of an integrated approach to prevention at Laval University
4. See our file on this subject, as well as our Nutrient Ranking.
