Brain Food Safely Manage Depression with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

More Americans suffer from depression today than ever before. Despite the wide array of antidepressant medications on the market, conventional psychiatric medicine is clearly failing to successfully manage the mood disorders that plague millions of adults. Compelling new findings suggest that mental health disorders such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia may in fact reflect severe deficiencies of omega-3 fatty acids.1-4 Although these essential fatty acids are critical in supporting healthy brain structure and function, they are shockingly scarce in the typical American diet. Further exacerbating the problem is that many people who restrict their calorie intake with the goal of losing weight or extending life span may actually be endangering their mental health by depriving their brains of sufficient omega-3 fats. In this article, we examine the latest research demonstrating the various ways in which omega-3 fatty acids help support optimal mood and attention while guarding against depression and other mental health disorders. LOW-FAT CRAZE FUELS DEPRESSION EPIDEMIC In the United States, longstanding conventional wisdom suggesting that all fats are unhealthy appears to have had an untold influence on rates of depression. Research indicates that when America went on its low-fat diet craze about 25 years ago, w