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Fish oil to be more accurate. Omega 3 fatty acids to be exact.

In the first controlled, double-blind study of the effects of a dietary compound on psychiatric disorders, a Harvard psychiatrist has proved that omega 3 fatty acids alleviate depression and bipolar disorder.

Well, sort of.

He almost proved it. "Almost" was good enough for the National Institutes of Health to commission a $1.5 million follow-up study, and for Harvard to commit $100,000 for a separate test on depression.

"Almost" hasn't gotten this kind of press since the "worst-to-first" Braves almost won the 1991 World Series. The stakes are so high, the evidence so strong and the implications so profound that nobody dares ignore the potential for omega 3 to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain.

To learn more about what fish oils can do for you, click here.

"If omega 3 works, it would be one of the most exciting findings in psychiatry in the past 35 years," says Jerry Cott, chief of adult psychopharmacology at NIH. Why? Because omega 3 isn't just an antidepressant like Prozac or a mood stabilizer like lithium. It's a dietary compound you can pick up at the grocery store. The profound implications don't stem from omega 3's apparent effectiveness in treating depression or bipolar disorder but from its seeming effectiveness in treating a whole range of brain disorders. Studies in England, for example, point to fish oil's effectiveness on schizophrenia.

Right now, psychiatry has a pill for this and a pill for that, targeting different neurotransmitters and regulating their levels and activity. Omega 3 could conceivably wipe out this nickel-and-diming and bring forth a whole new currency in mental health.

The omega 3 study withstood scrutiny by the editors of the Archives of General Psychiatry. A peer-review analysis in the esteemed journal called the test a "landmark" in the study of dietary compounds on psychiatric disorders. But the buzz is preliminary. The findings must still be replicated in other studies.

Dr. Andrew Stoll, head of Harvard University's psychopharmacology research laboratory at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., is at the vanguard of a whole new wave of brain disorder research -- testing dietary compounds and their effect on mood.

"I haven't proved anything yet," insists Stoll. No? Then why has he got himself, his wife, his kids, even his patients in private practice popping fish pills like after-dinner mints at an all-you-can-eat garlic buffet?

Because he won't wait for proof of something he already believes in. All the patients in his private practice who suffer from bipolar and depression are on a regimen of omega 3 capsules along with their medications (lithium, antidepressants, etc.). Some of his patients aren't on any medication at all. Just omega 3. And according to Stoll, they're doing great.

Next page | Science consistently discovers drugs by accident