Video

Traffic Pollution Can Inscreas Your Blood Pressure

A Texas Playground Caters Especially to Special Needs Children

BPA in Plastics May be Linked to Asthma

Communication Is Important When It Comes to Prostate Cancer

The Number of Home Births Has Gone Up

Which American Couples Are More Likely to Stay Together?

Workplace Wellness Can Help Reduce the Risk for Heart Problems

Some Parents May Hasten Death for Terminally Ill Children

Fitness Academics

Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk for Heart Disease in Kids

Toddlers Don't Learn Vocabulary From TV

Despite Worries, Most Parents Vaccinate Their Kids Anyway

Food Allergies Can Be Treated With the Allergen Foods

Signs of Heart Disease Could Be As Early as 3 in Obese Kids

The Number of Women Having Strokes is Rising

Fish Oil Helped Stave Off Psychosis in Study Patients

Posted on 02/02/2010, 12:00
By -- Robert Preidt

Supplements may benefit those at high risk of schizophrenia

TUESDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Among people at high risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, fish oil may help reduce their risk, researchers have found.

The new study included 81 high-risk patients with either mild psychotic symptoms, transient psychosis or a family history of psychotic disorders, plus a decrease in daily functioning. These criteria identify people whose risk of becoming psychotic may be as high as 40 percent in a one-year period.

For 12 weeks, 41 participants were assigned to take daily fish oil capsules containing 1.2 grams of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and 40 were given a placebo. Of the 76 patients who completed the study, two (4.9 percent) in the fish oil group and 11 (27.5 percent) in the placebo group progressed to psychosis, a difference of 22.6 percent, the researchers found.

Based on these results, Dr. G. Paul Amminger of Medical University of Vienna in Austria and the Orygen Youth Health Research Center in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues estimated that four adults would have to take fish oil with omega-3 fatty acids to prevent one of them from developing psychosis over a one-year period.

In their report, published in the February issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, the study authors also noted that patients who took the fish oil capsules had fewer symptoms of psychosis and better functioning than those who took the placebo.

The beneficial effects of fish oil capsules with omega-3 fatty acids may result from changes in cell membranes and interactions with neurotransmitter systems in the brain, the researchers explained in a news release from the journal's publisher.

Amminger and colleagues noted that many young adults are reluctant to take antipsychotic drugs due to perceived stigma and side effects such as sexual dysfunction, metabolic changes and weight gain. Omega-3 fatty acids may offer a natural alternative.

"Long-chain omega-3 fatty polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states," the authors concluded.

More information

Mental Health America has more about schizophrenia.

SOURCE: JAMA/Archives journals, news release, Feb. 1, 2010

More news in Nutrition...

BigHealthTree.com Disclaimer

Bighealthtree.com Does Not Provide Medical Advice. This site, including the above information, is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or health advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified health or medical professional before starting any new treatment, changing existing treatment, or altering your current exercise and/or diet program. If you think you are having a medical emergency, call 911 (or the emergency services in your area) or your doctor immediately.

Rating: 2.8 / 5 (31 votes)