Purified omega-3 fish oil is an effective, natural alternative for depression in pregnancy

Another study has reported that pregnant women who were depressed improved by taking omega-3 fish oil supplements during their pregnancy, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (Su, et al. 2008).

In this study, depressed pregnant women were given either 3.4 grams of omega-3 or placebo (a look-alike pill without omega-3) for 8 weeks. Research scientists then scored all the women (the researchers did not know which women were taking fish oil and which were not). The pregnant women who took fish oil became less depressed, compared to the other women. The improvements with fish oil were seen in all of the measurement tools used by the researchers.

We often underestimate the severity of depression. Depression can be a serious medical condition with serious risks. Depression happens in adults and is on the rise among children and seniors. It also happens during pregnancy. Effective and safe treatment in the US and Canada is questionable, despite the money spent on medical research. Most people who take antidepressants do not stay on the drugs. The reasons people cite are negative side effects (weight gain, decreased sex drive) or they simply don’t get better.

Why do we care about omega-3 fish oil, depression and pregnancy? We care for many reasons. In addition to limited options for medical therapy for women during pregnancy, the associated side effects, some women who take the medicines find they don’t work. Some women don’t want to take prescription medicines while pregnant and some women can’t afford medical care. And when we don’t feel good (aka depressed) we don’t take as good of care of ourselves (you don’t have to be pregnant to know that!). Lack of good self care has consequences, like poor nutrition, too little exercise, isolation, troubles with sleep and handling stress. These consequences can affect the rest of the family, such as readiness of the family and home for the new baby, preparing nutritious family meals, etc. You don’t have to be pregnant to know that depression affects family and friends. The pressure in our culture to be happy while pregnant doesn’t help.

The good news is that purified fish oil is natural, good quality fish oil is available, and here we see another study showing that it is effective. This study complements other the studies showing that omega-3s from fish oil can reduce depression in pregnant women, without unwanted side effects.

The most critical issue regarding supplementation during pregnancy is purity of product. I assure you that PharmaOmega fish oil products are purified. They are also concentrated, so you get more of the good stuff, the EPA and DHA, per capsule.

Study citation: Su KP, Huang SY, et al. Omega-3 fatty acids for major depressive disorder during pregnancy: results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry, 2008; 69:644-651