Omega-3 Supplements May Lower Anxiety

Is increased anxiety a manifestation of low Omega-3 in our diets? A recent study in Brain, Behavior and Immunology suggests so. The study used "normal" medical students and placed some on Omega-3 fish oil and some on placebo. They measured some standard questionnaires of anxiety as well as the inflammatory molecule IL-6. The questionnaires and the labs showed improvement by as much as 20% in the active treatment group. The surprising thing is that this was not a study of anxious people. These were typical high functioning people who just had a reduction in anxiety by their report on paper tests and on a laboratory marker for inflammation. It's likely that people with anxiety would benefit even more than this study suggests. This further connects the world of our immune system and our brains through a dietary intervention. Pretty Cool. Take home: eat more fish that is high in Omega-3.