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Omega 3 fatty acids in bipolar disorder: a preliminary double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
A L Stoll1, W E Severus, M P Freeman
1Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass, USA. alstoll@mclean.harvard.edu
Background:
Omega3 fatty acids may inhibit neuronal signal transduction pathways in a manner similar to that of lithium carbonate and valproate, 2 effective treatments for bipolar disorder. The present study was performed to examine whether omega3 fatty acids also exhibit mood-stabilizing properties in bipolar disorder.
Methods:
A 4-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, comparing omega3 fatty acids (9.6 g/d) vs placebo (olive oil), in addition to usual treatment, in 30 patients with bipolar disorder.
Results:
A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of the cohort found that the omega3 fatty acid patient group had a significantly longer period of remission than the placebo group (P = .002; Mantel-Cox). In addition, for nearly every other outcome measure, the omega3 fatty acid group performed better than the placebo group.
Conclusion:
Omega3 fatty acids were well tolerated and improved the short-term course of illness in this preliminary study of patients with bipolar disorder.