Health and Wellness : Fish oil shows promise in helping some avoid schizophrenia

noor100

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Fish oil pills may be able to save some young people with signs of mental illness from descending into schizophrenia, according to a preliminary but first-of-its-kind study.

The Austrian study of just 81 patients comes from leaders in the field of youth mental health and adds to evidence suggesting severe mental illness might be prevented with the right intervention.

Though it sounds incredibly simple, fish oil fits one hypothesis for what causes schizophrenia, a possible difference in how the body handles fatty acids.

"If it works, it will be an absolutely tremendous development," said Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who wasn't involved in the new study.

More research is needed to see if the results are accurate, he said.

The researchers are beginning a larger international study in eight cities with hopes of replicating their findings, which appear in February's Archives of General Psychiatry, released Monday.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that strikes adolescents and young adults. About 2.4 million Americans have the disorder, which is treated with antipsychotic medication.

Since the 1990s, researchers have wondered if the disease could be stopped in its earliest stages, before it fully overpowers a person's grip on reality. Studies have tried antipsychotics in select young people, but troubling side effects pose ethical questions and results have been mixed.

For the new study, researchers identified 81 people, ages 13 to 25, with warning signs of psychosis.

The signs include sleeping dramatically more or less than usual, growing suspicious of others, believing someone is putting thoughts in their head or thinking they have magical powers. The young people in the study sought professional help and most were referred by psychiatrists at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Researchers randomly assigned 41 of the patients to take four fish oil pills a day for three months. The daily dose of 1,200 milligrams was about what many people take to get the protective benefits of fish oil for the heart and costs less than 40 cents a day.

The rest of the patients received dummy pills. After one year of monitoring, 2 of 41 patients in the fish oil group, or about 5 percent, had become psychotic, or completely out of touch with reality. In the placebo group, 11 of 40 became psychotic, about 28 percent.

Four people would need to take fish oil to prevent one transition to a psychotic disorder during a year, according to the researchers.

No one knows what causes schizophrenia but one hypothesis says people with the disease don't process fatty acids correctly, leading to damaged brain cells.

Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could help brain cells to repair and stabilize, the researchers speculate. Some prior studies on omega-3 supplements in people with full-blown schizophrenia have shown benefits.

"Schizophrenia is among the most mysterious and costliest diseases in terms of human suffering, so anything that gives some hope to avoid this is great," said lead author Dr. G. Paul Amminger, formerly in Vienna and now at the Orygen Youth Health Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Side effects of antipsychotics, including sexual dysfunction and weight gain, are troubling to young people, Amminger said. Fish oil, recommended for heart health, is more acceptable to patients with warning symptoms.

Scientists in the field greeted the findings with cautious excitement.

"The results are very impressive and very striking and really represent a step forward potentially for patients and their families," said Dr. Neil Richtand, a schizophrenia researcher at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Dr. Janet Wozniak of Harvard Medical School said the findings, while preliminary, might reasonably cause psychiatrists to recommend fish oil to some patients because there are known benefits and little risk.

Wozniak advised consumers to look for high quality nutritional supplements. Most fish oil capsules are free from contaminants and test highly for quality, said William Obermeyer of ConsumerLab.com, which tests supplements for manufacturers and publishes ratings for subscribers.

The research was funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute, a nonprofit in Chevy Chase, Md., that supports research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2010/02/fish_oil_shows_promise_in_help.html

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/...octor-didnt-tell-you-about-miracle-story.html
 
In the Spirit of Sankofa,

.......Yep, good ole cod liver oil, grew up on it, lol...

Peace In,

Fish oil pills may be able to save some young people with signs of mental illness from descending into schizophrenia, according to a preliminary but first-of-its-kind study.

The Austrian study of just 81 patients comes from leaders in the field of youth mental health and adds to evidence suggesting severe mental illness might be prevented with the right intervention.

Though it sounds incredibly simple, fish oil fits one hypothesis for what causes schizophrenia, a possible difference in how the body handles fatty acids.

"If it works, it will be an absolutely tremendous development," said Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who wasn't involved in the new study.

More research is needed to see if the results are accurate, he said.

The researchers are beginning a larger international study in eight cities with hopes of replicating their findings, which appear in February's Archives of General Psychiatry, released Monday.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that strikes adolescents and young adults. About 2.4 million Americans have the disorder, which is treated with antipsychotic medication.

Since the 1990s, researchers have wondered if the disease could be stopped in its earliest stages, before it fully overpowers a person's grip on reality. Studies have tried antipsychotics in select young people, but troubling side effects pose ethical questions and results have been mixed.

For the new study, researchers identified 81 people, ages 13 to 25, with warning signs of psychosis.

The signs include sleeping dramatically more or less than usual, growing suspicious of others, believing someone is putting thoughts in their head or thinking they have magical powers. The young people in the study sought professional help and most were referred by psychiatrists at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Researchers randomly assigned 41 of the patients to take four fish oil pills a day for three months. The daily dose of 1,200 milligrams was about what many people take to get the protective benefits of fish oil for the heart and costs less than 40 cents a day.

The rest of the patients received dummy pills. After one year of monitoring, 2 of 41 patients in the fish oil group, or about 5 percent, had become psychotic, or completely out of touch with reality. In the placebo group, 11 of 40 became psychotic, about 28 percent.

Four people would need to take fish oil to prevent one transition to a psychotic disorder during a year, according to the researchers.

No one knows what causes schizophrenia but one hypothesis says people with the disease don't process fatty acids correctly, leading to damaged brain cells.

Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could help brain cells to repair and stabilize, the researchers speculate. Some prior studies on omega-3 supplements in people with full-blown schizophrenia have shown benefits.

"Schizophrenia is among the most mysterious and costliest diseases in terms of human suffering, so anything that gives some hope to avoid this is great," said lead author Dr. G. Paul Amminger, formerly in Vienna and now at the Orygen Youth Health Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Side effects of antipsychotics, including sexual dysfunction and weight gain, are troubling to young people, Amminger said. Fish oil, recommended for heart health, is more acceptable to patients with warning symptoms.

Scientists in the field greeted the findings with cautious excitement.

"The results are very impressive and very striking and really represent a step forward potentially for patients and their families," said Dr. Neil Richtand, a schizophrenia researcher at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Dr. Janet Wozniak of Harvard Medical School said the findings, while preliminary, might reasonably cause psychiatrists to recommend fish oil to some patients because there are known benefits and little risk.

Wozniak advised consumers to look for high quality nutritional supplements. Most fish oil capsules are free from contaminants and test highly for quality, said William Obermeyer of ConsumerLab.com, which tests supplements for manufacturers and publishes ratings for subscribers.

The research was funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute, a nonprofit in Chevy Chase, Md., that supports research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2010/02/fish_oil_shows_promise_in_help.html

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/...octor-didnt-tell-you-about-miracle-story.html
 
Fish Oil - How To Choose The Best

lens1325940_squidoofish.jpg


The omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil are vital to your good health. However, many people have been led to believe that they'll get these same health benefits from oils like flaxseed, primrose, borage and perilla.
If you're one of these people - I'm sorry to tell you, but you've been misled by aggressive, hype marketing.
What the plant based omega 3 oil manufacturers conveniently forgot to mention is that their products do not contain EPA and DHA, which are the omega 3 fatty acids that have been shown to produce all of the incredible results. Fish is nature's richest source of these two incredible fatty acids.
They also neglect to tell you that flaxseed oil is the exact same thing as linseed oil. "Linum" is Latin for "flax" and linseed oil is used to make furniture polishes, varnishes, printing inks, lacquers and linoleum flooring.
I'll help you sort through all the hype and misinformation out there so you can choose a quality fish oil supplement that will give you health benefits for years to come!

http://www.squidoo.com/fish_oil
 
Fish oil supplements without mercury in them should be one of the most important standards by which all supplements are judged.
We will discuss this a bit and then cover some other important points about how to choose a quality fish oil product.
First, as most of us know now, eating fatty fish may provide a great source of omega-3's, but it also comes with toxins that build up in the flesh of the fish because of pollution in the world's water systems. These toxins can be very serious: heavy metals like mercury, lead, PCB's.
Fish oil supplements without mercury need to be molecularly distilled. The molecular distillation process separates the toxins from the beneficial oils, which are separated based on weight. The purified oils are then used for the supplements.
So, the first thing you need to do is buy only fish oil that has been molecularly distilled


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/991576
 
I was just talking to my sister last night, and an uncle this morning about how we have to be careful about what we eat to live. I have started buying some products with flaxseed oil so thanks. This can get really confusing trying to balance everything..
 

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