Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Reduction of Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Journal of Affective Disorders, online 27 July 2018,.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.07.057
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- Omega-3 and Vitamin D each treat many mental health problems - April 2018
- Happy Nurses Project gave Omega-3 for 3 months – reduced depression, insomnia, anxiety, etc for a year – RCT July 2018
Pages listed in BOTH the categories Intervention AND Depression
- Depression cost-effectively reduced by 50,000 IU of Vitamin D monthly (Iranian teens) – July 2023
- Infants getting an additional 800 IU of vitamin D for 2 years had 60% fewer psychiatric symptoms at age 7 – RCT May 2023
- Anxiety and Depression decreased in senior prediabetics with weekly 25,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Sept 2022
- Depression decreased by Vitamin D (12th study in VitaminDWiki) – RCT Nov 2022
- Overweight needed more EPA (4 grams) to fight depression – RCT Aug 2022
- Omega-3 did not prevent depression (they failed to reduce Omega-6, which blocks Omega-3) – RCT Dec 2021
- Weekly Vitamin D plus daily Magnesium is great (reduced depression in obese women in this case) – July 2021
- Depression in psychiatric youths reduced 28 percent after just 1 month of vitamin D – RCT Feb 2020
- Yet another study confirms Depression is treated by weekly Vitamin D (50,000 IU)– RCT Dec 2019
- Depression decreased after vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly to elderly in the case) – RCT Oct 2019
- Vitamin D - no cure for depression (when you use only 1200 IU) – Aug 2019
- Depression reduced in Diabetics with 3 months of 4,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT July 2019
- Vitamin D treatment of diabetes (50,000 IU every 2 weeks) augmented by probiotic – RCT June 2018
- Women had better sexual desire, orgasm and satisfaction after Vitamin D supplementation – Feb 2018
- Vitamin D depression RCT canceled: too many were taking Vitamin D supplements, etc. Feb 2018
- Depression in adolescent girls reduced somewhat by 50,000 IU weekly for 9 weeks – July 2017
- Perinatal depression decreased 40 percent with just a few weeks of 2,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT Aug 2016
- Just 1500 IU of Vitamin D significantly helps Prozac – RCT March 2013
- Reduced depression with single 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT June 2013
- 40,000 IU vitamin D weekly reduced depression in many obese subjects – RCT 2008
- 50,000 IU Vitamin D weekly Improves Mood, Lowers Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetics – Oct 2013
Pages listed in BOTH the categories Depression and Meta-analysis
- Depression reduced by 8,000 IU of Vitamin D daily – meta-analysis Nov 2024
- Depression 1.6 X more likely if low Vitamin D, taking Vitamin D reduces depression – umbrella of meta-analyses – Jan 2023
- Depression in seniors greatly reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis June 2023
- Depression reduced if take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily – umbrella meta-analysis – Jan 2023
- Depression reduced if use more than 2,800 IU of vitamin D – meta-analysis Aug 2022
- Depression is treated by 2,000 IU of Vitamin D – 2 meta-analyses July 2022
- Depression treated by 50K IU Vitamin D weekly (but not 1,000 IU daily) – meta-analysis Jan 2021
- Mental disorders fought by Omega-3 etc. - meta-meta-analysis Oct 2019
- Depression less likely if more Vitamin D (12 percent per 10 ng) – meta-analysis July 2019
- Anxiety severity reduced if more than 2 grams of Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2018
- Less depression in seniors taking enough Omega-3 – meta-analysis July 2018
- Unipolar depression treated by Omega-3, Zinc, and probably Vitamin D – meta-analysis Oct 2017
- Depression is associated with low Magnesium – meta-analysis April 2015
- Clinical Trials of vitamin D can have “biological flaws” – Jan 2015
- Slight depression not reduced by adding vitamin D if already had enough (no surprise) – meta-analysis – Nov 2014
- Anti-depression medication about as good as big increase in vitamin D – meta-analysis of flawless data April 2014
- Depression might be reduced by vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2014
- Low vitamin D and depression - Study and meta-analysis, April 2013
- 2X more likely to be depressed if low vitamin D (cohort studies) - Meta-analysis Jan 2013
Pages listed in BOTH the categories Depression and Omega-3
- Overweight needed more EPA (4 grams) to fight depression – RCT Aug 2022
- Anxiety, depression, and suicide have recently surged (Note: Vitamin D, Omega-3, and Magnesium help) – May 2022
- Omega-3 did not prevent depression (they failed to reduce Omega-6, which blocks Omega-3) – RCT Dec 2021
- Mental health not helped by vitamin D monotherapy (adding Omega-3 and Magnesium help) – review Nov 2021
- Benefits of Omega-3 plus Vitamin D were additive – RCT Sept 2021
- Depression treatments: diet, exercise, bright light, Vitamin D, B12, Omega-3, Zinc, Music, etc. – May 2019
- Omega-3 helps treat Major Depression – International Consensus Sept 2019
- Mental disorders fought by Omega-3 etc. - meta-meta-analysis Oct 2019
- Omega-3 reduces Depression. Anxiety, Stress, PTSD, etc. – Aug 2018
- Depression treated by Omega-3 (again) – meta-analysis Aug 2019
- Depression after childbirth 5 X less likely if good Omega-3 index – April 2019
- Occupational burnout reduced after 8 weeks of Omega-3 – RCT July 2019
- Anxiety severity reduced if more than 2 grams of Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2018
- Psychotic disorders not treated by Omega-3 when patents take anti-depressants and get therapy – June 2018
- Happy Nurses Project gave Omega-3 for 3 months – reduced depression, insomnia, anxiety, etc for a year – RCT July 2018
- Depression – is it reduced by Vitamin D and or Omega-3 – RCT 2019
- Benefits of Omega-3 beyond heart health - LEF Feb 2018
- Omega-3 improves gut bacteria, reduces inflammation and depression – Dec 2017
- Unipolar depression treated by Omega-3, Zinc, and probably Vitamin D – meta-analysis Oct 2017
- Omega-3 reduces many psychiatric disorders – 2 reviews 2016
- Omega-3 does not consistently treat depression if use small amounts for short time period – review Oct 2016
- How Omega-3 Fights Depression – LEF July 2016
- Depression due to inflammation reduced by Omega-3 (children and pregnant) – Nov 2015
- Depression treated somewhat by Omega-3 (St. John's Wort better) – RAND org reviews 2015
- Depression substantially decreased with Omega-3 – Sept 2015
- Omega-3 for just 3 months greatly reduced psychosis for 80 months – RCT Aug 2015
- Omega-3 prevents PTSD and some mood disorders - Aug 2015
- Omega-3, Vitamin D, and other nutrients decrease mental health problems – March 2015
Highlights
- Available evidence suggested the efficacy of n-3 PUFA treatment with dosage greater than 1.5g/d in reducing depressive symptoms among adults aged 60 or older
- Our study searched ten databases and gray literature. Nine with low risk and bias studies were included, which made the results more comprehensive, accurate and credible compared with previous studies.
- This review synthesized the effects of n-3 PUFAs on older adults with depressive symptoms and explored subgroup differences (comorbidity, baseline depression, dosage, ratio of EPA and DHA, intervention duration).
- The current review used RVE in meta-regression to synthesize treatment effect size estimates, which could have produced more accurate results compared to traditional methods used in previous systematic reviews.
- Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Reduction of Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Objective
This study aimed to systematically review the efficacy of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) supplements in reducing depressive symptoms among older adults.
Methods
Relevant electronic databases were searched from their inception to 26 June 4, 2018, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Global Health databases, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov and Chinese Biomedical Medicine Database. Two reviewers independently screened for eligible studies, extracted data, and assessed the studies using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias. The effect size data were analyzed using robust variance estimation in meta-regression.
Results
Nine studies were included. The results showed n-3 PUFA supplements reduced depressive symptoms for older adults (d = -0.202, 95% CI = -0.463, 0.060), but the difference was not significant. Subgroup analysis found a statistically non-significant difference between n-3 PUFAs and control conditions in treating depressive symptoms among adults aged 60 or older. Meta-regression found interventions with dosage greater than 1.5g/d had an average effect size of -0.428, with a 95% confidence interval of -0.822 to -0.035, which is statistically significant. And the other meta-regression did not find significant moderating effects of depression with comorbid disease, baseline depression, intervention duration, and EPA–DHA ratio, potentially due to limited statistical power.