Lack of omega-3 linked to depression

BORDEAUX, France, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Reduced levels of omega-3 in mice had deleterious consequences on synaptic functions and emotional behaviors, French researchers say.

Researchers at the Institut national de la sante et de la recherche medicale and the French National Institure for Agriculatural Research say the human dietary ratio between omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3 increased continuously over the course of the 20th century.

Olivier Manzoni, head of research at INSERM in Bordeaux and the Institut de Neurobiologie de la Mediterranee in Marseille, and Sophie Laye, head of research at INRA in Bordeaux, and co-workers studied mice fed a lifelong diet imbalanced in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

The study, published in the journal Nature neuroscience, finds omega-3 deficiency disturbed neuronal communication and the neuronal dysfunction was accompanied by depressive behaviors among the malnourished mice.

"Our results can now corroborate clinical and epidemiological studies which have revealed associations between an omega-3/omega-6 imbalance and mood disorders," Manzoni and Laye say in a statement. "To determine if the omega-3 deficiency is responsible for these neuropsychiatric disorders additional studies are, of course, required."

The authors estimate the results provide the first biological components of an explanation for the observed correlation between omega-3 poor diets -- widespread in the industrialized world -- and mood disorders such as depression.