And at least one trial, published earlier this year in the American Journal of Psychiatry by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, found no significant effect of adding DHA to treatment for major depression.
Such findings explain why plenty of people -- even experts in the field -- are cautious about overbilling the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
_____Special Report_____
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Supermarket Dining: 10 Smart Ways to Eat In (The Washington Post, Jan 12, 2005)
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Putting a Healthy Spin On Processed Foods (The Washington Post, Jan 10, 2005)
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A Weekly Shot of News and Notes (The Washington Post, Nov 23, 2004)
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Fewer Poor Students Eat Free Breakfasts in Region (The Washington Post, Nov 19, 2004)
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High Doses Of Vitamin E Found to Raise Risk of Dying (The Washington Post, Nov 11, 2004)
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Dietary Supplements
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"The biggest risk is for someone to try to treat themselves with these over the counter when what they really need is an evaluation," says Freeman. "It scares me a little to have this in the media."
A National Academy of Sciences panel spent months reviewing the scientific literature on omega-3 fatty acids and other fats in the diet and concluded that there was not enough evidence to set a recommended dietary allowance.
"Is the evidence strong enough to use [omega-3s] for depression?" asks Alice H. Lichtenstein, professor of nutrition at Tufts University "It's sufficient evidence to do human trials, but not to make dietary recommendations."
In the meantime, research continues to point to the cardiovascular benefits of eating a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Some of the latest findings, published earlier this month in the journal Circulation, found that men who ate at least two servings of fish per week had lower heart rates, meaning their hearts beat were stronger and more efficient, beating fewer times per minute than men who ate fish less than once per week. And the twice-weekly fish eaters also had a significantly reduced risk of heart disease compared with those who ate fish less than once per week.
Some of the omega-3 researchers are so convinced of the benefits of these essential fats that they are making sure their families eat foods rich in them.
Until the science is completely sorted out, Lichtenstein hedges her bets by alternating between using a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of canola oil in her family meal preparation.
Harvard's Stoll is so convinced of the benefits of omega-3s that he jokes he nearly force-feeds food rich in omega-3s to his three children. His two older kids also take a daily fish oil supplement made by a company that Stoll's wife -- also a psychiatrist -- formed after seeing his data. His youngest child, who doesn't like fish and can't swallow pills yet, dines on flax-meal pancakes, on flax-meal with honey and walnuts and on flax, wild game and other foods laced with ground flaxseed.
As Stoll says, "Anything good for the heart seems to be good for the brain."•
