Posted by SLS on December 21, 2012, at 20:39:28
In reply to Re: High fat diet -) inflammation -) depression, posted by jono_in_adelaide on December 21, 2012, at 19:13:59
> Omega 3 fatty acids are reputed to help depression and reduce inflamation - a good reason to add a decent dose of fish oil to ones intake of pills
It is hard to argue against that. However, Carlson's fish oil makes me feel decidedly worse.
I think there might be something pharmacological going on with high-dose omega-3 whereby depression is ameliorated by mechanisms more immediate to the site of mood dysregulation than is the reduction of brain inflammation. Some people actually become manic immediately after taking their first dose of fish oil. To me, that seems far to quick to be explained by a reduction in inflammation. Of course, one (me) could argue that O3FA might facilitate a reduction in inflammation by removing the stress that produces it. That stress very well might be the depression itself.
O3FA > (membrane stability / CREB / BDNF) > reduced depressive stress > reduced inflammation.
I guess arguments could be made either way.
Some people suggest that when there are multiple explanations for a phenomenon, the simplest one is probably the right one. I think that inflammation is an attractive explanation to account for depression for precisely this reason. There are times when it is attractive to me, too.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1033371
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121217/msgs/1033474.html