[Hadrian (OP)]

Diet can help relieve depression

Monday January 29th 2007

THE answer to depression could be in your gut.

Irish scientists have developed a new type of bacteria that protects against stress and depression.

Professor of psychiatry Ted Dinan of University College Cork is leading the charge to develop new foods that could do the work of antidepressants. He will outline how diet can be used to boost mood and mental health at a public forum on Food for Life at the university tomorrow.

The UCC company Alimentary Health has developed a probiotic bacteria that has been proven to help in alleviating Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), a digestive disorder caused by high stress levels.

A supplement containing the bacteria has already been launched on the American market under the trademark Align and it is expected to go on sale in Ireland within the next year. While many "outrageous" claims are made for probiotic substances, scientists at UCC are carrying out rigorous testing to find the effective ones, said Prof Dinan.

They are focussing on ways of lowering the hormone cortisol, which causes the body's fight-or-flight mechanism but can cause serious problems such as IBS and depression if it remains at high levels in the body.

But aside from breakthroughs in probiotics, the best dietary advice for combatting stress is to do exactly what was also needed for a healthy heart - eat a balanced diet and do plenty of exercise, said Prof Dinan. Anti-depressants are also essential in many cases.

[iko]

...from CodLiverOil topic
in Complementary Medicine:

A little help for your nerves...

http://www-dateline.ucdavis.edu/010700/depression.jpg

Associations between cod liver oil use
and symptoms of depression: The Hordaland Health Study.

Raeder MB, Steen VM, Vollset SE, Bjelland I.
Dr. Einar Martens' Research Group for Biological Psychiatry, Center for Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Helse Bergen HF, N-5021 Bergen, Norway; Department of Clinical Medicine and Bergen Mental Health Research Center, University of Bergen, Norway.

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials suggest that omega-3 fatty acids improve the outcome of depression. This study aimed to evaluate the association between intake of cod liver oil, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and high levels of symptoms of depression and anxiety in the general population. METHODS: We used data from the "The Hordaland Health Study '97-'99" (HUSK), a population based cross-sectional health survey from Norway including 21,835 subjects aged 40-49 and 70-74 years. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured by The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). We used logistic regression to study associations.
RESULTS: Among the participants, 8.9% used cod liver oil daily. A total of 3.6% had high levels of depressive symptoms. The prevalence of such depressive symptoms among the subjects who used cod liver oil daily was 2.5%, as compared to 3.8% in the rest of the population. The users of cod liver oil were significantly less likely to have depressive symptoms than non-users after adjusting for multiple possible confounding factors (odds ratio=0.71, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.97). These factors included age, gender, smoking habits, coffee consumption, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and education. In addition, we found that the prevalence of high levels of depressive symptoms decreased with increasing duration (0-12 months) of cod liver oil use (multivariate adjusted test for trend, P=0.04). We were only able to study this latter association in a subset of the population aged 40-46 years.
LIMITATIONS: Data are cross sectional.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that regular use of cod liver oil is negatively associated with high levels of depressive symptoms in the general population.

J Affect Disord. 2006 Dec 18; [Epub ahead of print]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17184843&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

[Karen W.]

This is all very interesting.. I hope to here some more about it soon!

[neilep]

Dieting can help you diet says leading health expert Lien Leefeetondaplate,

Studies have been conducted by team of scientists over the period of the last twenty years.

A group of 100 individuals were split into two groups of 50. Each group contained equal numbers of overweight and non overweight people.

One group (Group 1) were force fed BK Whoppers and Animal fat and the others (Group 2) were
put on a regime where their daily calorific intake was monitored and kept to
a reasonable level. Their diet included vegetables and lean meats,fish and was subsidized
by exercise and a healthy outlook on life. See this website for more on that. http://activity4life.com/forum


The results ?....from Group 1...only 12 survived and they now orbit a nearby sun.

From Group 2 all survived !!..and those whom were overweight
returned to their most suitable mass that was right for their size with excellent health although thoroughly depressed and no joy.

Further studies need to be done but early indications are that dieting can help you diet

[DrN]

cod liver oil is great. its been shown to reduce aggression and hyperactivity in kids too. its the omega 3 and/or 6 fish oils that apparently do it, and you can get some of those from other sources too, like evening primrose oil and flaxseed oil.

[iko]

cod liver oil is great. its been shown to reduce aggression and hyperactivity in kids too. its the omega 3 and/or 6 fish oils that apparently do it, and you can get some of those from other sources too, like evening primrose oil and flaxseed oil.

Yes. Cod liver oil, like other fish liver oils,
has Vitamin D3 (Liquid Sunshine) and Vitamin A too...so good 4 us.
Fish oils have omega-3 only, no D3, no Vitamin A.

ikod