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EPA

There’s not enough EPA to mass medicate the mentally ill

Mental illness is a global issue. It can affect anyone, anywhere, at any time. It is distressing not only for the individual suffering from a mental illness, but for their families and friends too. It can ruin relationships, wreck careers and reduce quality of life, sometimes to the extent that living itself becomes unbearable.

The good news is that EPA or Eicosapentaenoic acid, an Omega 3 essential fatty acid found only in oily fish can significantly improve brain function and alleviate the symptoms of depression and anxiety. The bad news is that if we don’t do something about our fishing methods, we simply do not have enough EPA to mass medicate the mentally ill.

Small fish get their EPA from algae and plankton and larger carnivorous fish get their stocks of EPA by eating the smaller fish. We get our supply of EPA by eating fish or taking fish oil supplements. However, modern fishing methods means we are fast running out of fish. In fact Boris Worm and Ransom Myers reported that stocks of predatory fish have been reduced by a whopping 90%.

Even fish farms are not the solution as large quantities of wild fish are required to produce fishmeal. Perhaps we could farm vegetarian fish but unfortunately, this isn’t the answer either as most vegetarian fish do not contain significant quantities of EPA.

Why EPA?

If we can’t get any EPA because we’ve decimated our fish supplies, to say that our physical and mental health would suffer would be a massive understatement. First of all, no one really understands exactly how EPA works to alleviate mental illness but it appears to be essential for efficient brain function on a day to day basis. It increases the blood flow to the brain, reduces inflammation and facilitates better communication between the inter-neural networks.

To date EPA has proven to be helpful in the treatment of a number of depressive and anxiety-related disorders including:

Clinical Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Schizophrenia
Post Natal Depression
Pre-menstrual Tension
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia
ADHD
Dyslexia

Interestingly, most of these conditions have been associated with a lack of Omega 3 fatty acids in the blood, particularly EPA. Basically, we all need EPA in order to survive and we need enough of it in our diets to become and remain healthy both physically and mentally.

What does the research reveal about EPA?

Dr Malcolm Peet, a consultant psychiatrist at Sheffield swallow court hospital found that Ethyl EPA could significantly reduce the symptoms of depression and improve mood. He, along with a growing number of others believe that EPA is the fatty acid primarily responsible for the profound effect on mood and brain functioning. A recent study by the Institute of Psychiatry in London and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, reported that ethyl-EPA was an effective intervention for people with bipolar depression.

Early in 2006, an Australian study conducted by the University of Adelaide claimed that fish oil high in EPA was better than Ritalin for treating ADHD.

Incredibly, there are also indications that EPA might increase brain size. Dr Basant Puri found that after treatment with EPA there appeared to be regeneration in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for memory, reason and processing information. A comparison of a brain scan taken before the EPA treatment with one taken after showed that the brain had partially re-grown.

In an Israeli study led by Boris Nemets and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2002, the effect of EPA was significant from week two of treatment and by week three, the symptoms of depression, feelings of guilt and worthlessness and insomnia had all improved.

Yet another study involving EPA, this time in Scotland and conducted by doctors Peet and Horrobin, found that all symptoms of depression had improved after only four weeks. All seventy participants had been suffering from persistent depression despite treatment with anti-depressant drugs.

The Durham Trials

And then we have the high profile Durham trials in the UK. In 2002 a trial led by Dr Marion Portwood was carried out involving more than 100 primary school children with some concentration or learning problems. The study was carried out in collaboration with the Dyslexia Research Trust based in Oxford and Dr Alex Richardson, an expert on fatty acids and the brain. Each child was given a daily dose of fish oil high in EPA. The children showed a dramatic improvement in reading, spelling and behaviour after only 3 months on the trial.

Another Durham trial involved giving nursery school children EPA and again after a few months, the results showed that 91% of the children who were classed as having poor behaviour at the beginning of the trial had improved. Concentration level and language skills also improved significantly when compared with the control group.

In March 2006 the results were released from another Durham study involving secondary school children with symptoms of ADHD. At the beginning of the trial, 94% of the children were rated as having moderate to severe ADHD and the same score for inattention, and 89% as having additional problems with impulsivity. After 3 months, the ratings for ADHD and impulsivity were reduced to 28% with inattention dropping to just 17%.

The results of these and other studies are so impressive that the UK government are considering giving fish oil capsules to school children as part of an initiative to improve nutrition in general and of course with the view that it would improve behaviour and academic performance too.

EPA on prescription

The drug company Amarin have produced Miraxion, a drug made from purified EPA and are currently trying to have it approved as a prescription drug for the treatment of depression. If successful, it will be the first and only approved prescription drug for specifically melancholic depression. The results of their trials were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in March 2002 and in the Archives of General Psychiatry in October 2002.

What’s the problem?

Omega 3 has become big news so we have seen a massive increase in the amount of foods and supplements on the supermarket shelves promoting Omega 3 for just about everything.

Some have proclaimed the benefit of plant based sources of Omega 3, however, dark green vegetables, flax and hemp contain the Omega 3 fatty acid Alpha-linolenic acid or ALA and we just cannot efficiently synthesis this into the more beneficial EPA.
The problem is simple, if we run out of fish we run out of supplies of EPA.

According to Worm et al “Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystems Services” 2006, fish stocks will be eradicated by the year 2048. This trend is reversible but only if we modify our fishing methods and take less fish out of the ocean in places where stocks are already low.

Charles Clover, Environment Editor of the Daily Telegraph and author of the award winning book “The End of the Line” published in 2004 says it all. He explains in his book how over-fishing, modern fishing methods and politics are destroying economies, ecosystems and the ocean which is changing the world in which we live forever.

Unless governments start implementing measures to improve fishing methods and reduce the negative impact on our oceans and our fish supplies, we will simply not have enough EPA to go round and given that interest in EPA is bound to increase as research continues to release details of the positive effect it can have on mental health, this would be tragic.

Omega 3 fish oils Pure EPA is available exclusively from mind 1st.

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