Enriching your diet with omega 3, essential fatty acids, would significantly reduce the risk of developing schizophrenia in young people at risk. This is revealed by a new scientific study published this Tuesday, August 11 in the journal Nature communications and made public by AFP.
To reach this conclusion, a group of Australian and Austrian researchers prescribed food supplements based on omega 3 for 12 weeks to a group of 41 people aged 13 to 25, considered to be at high risk of developing psychoses. They compared them to a control group of 40 young people of the same age and having the same risks, subjected to a placebo. Since the study was blinded, none of the people in the two groups knew whether they had received the omega-3 supplement or the placebo. In the end, the researchers showed that only 10% of young people in the first group had developed schizophrenia during the seven years following treatment, compared to 40% of young people in the second group.
In addition, the disease appeared overall earlier in the placebo group, a group which also presented more mental illnesses than the group subjected to omega 3 during the duration of the follow-up.
In view of these results, the authors of the study believe that these data “offer hope for alternatives to psychopharmacological treatments in young people at risk of developing psychoses”. They recognize, however, that their sample is quite limited, and that these conclusions will therefore have to be confirmed in new studies.
Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that usually appears in adolescence or early adulthood. It is manifested by a loss of contact and reference with reality, by hallucinations, withdrawal or even by communication disorders. More than 400,000 people suffer from it in France.
The omega 3 are essential fatty acids, essential for the proper functioning of the brain, the nervous and retinal systems. Consumed in moderation, they would also maintain good cardiovascular and mental health. It is found in fatty fish (salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, etc.) or in certain vegetable oils (nuts, rapeseed, etc.).
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