Research paper

Comparison between the AA/EPA ratio in depressed and non depressed elderly females: omega-3 fatty acid supplementation correlates with improved symptoms but does not change immunological parameters

Nutrition Journal

Oct 2012

DOI: 10.1186/1475-2891-11-82

Citations: 69

Influential: 3

Interventional (Human) Studies

Study answer

What this study found

Omega-3 supplementation improved depressive symptoms, but most immunological measures did not change meaningfully. In the omega-3 group, GDS decreased from 17.1±3.6 at baseline to 11.6±4.3 after 8 weeks, while whole-blood AA/EPA fell from 37.010 to 22.052 and RBC membrane AA/EPA fell from 77.878 to 42.291. CD16 increased from 13.0 (9.3) to 16.5 (10.8), whereas other immune markers were largely unchanged. The decline in AA/EPA ratio tracked symptom improvement, supporting its use as a marker of n-3 status.

Study & population: Randomized placebo-controlled trial in depressed elderly female nursing-home residents in Pavia, Italy.
Intervention: For the omega-3 PUFA group, participants took one tablespoon orally once daily for 8 weeks, providing 2.5 g/day with an EPA:DHA ratio of 2:1.
Key limitation: The active arm was small and limited to elderly women in a single nursing-home setting, which reduces generalizability.

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