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Aggression, Fish Oil, and Noradrenergic Activity

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Nutrients, Stress, and Medical Disorders

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

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Abstract

Fish oil is known to exert an influence on behavior and mood. We have been studying the effects of fish oil, especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a major active component of fish oil, on aggression in double-blind trials (see below). Cross-national association of economy-related seafood consumption with the incidence of major depression (Hibbeln, 1998) and bipolar disorders (Noaghiul & Hibbeln, 2003) suggest that greater seafood consumption predicts lower lifetime prevalence rates of thosepsychiatric disorders. (1999) reported a preliminary interventional trial of patients with bipolar disorder in which symptoms were reduced in the fish oil group. A few double-blind studies (Nemets, Stahl, & Belmaker, 2002; Peet & Horrobin, 2002) aimed at major depression with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), another major active fish oil component, were also successful. We recently performed a case-control study of suicide attempt in China and found that EPA and DHA in the red blood cells of suicide attempters (n = 100) were significantly lower than in controls (n = 100) (Huan et al., 2004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Natural Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Toyama, Japan

    Tomohito Hamazaki

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  1. Tomohito Hamazaki
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychopharmacology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, and The Gonda Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Shlomo Yehuda PhD

  2. Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA

    David I. Mostofsky PhD

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© 2006 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Hamazaki, T. (2006). Aggression, Fish Oil, and Noradrenergic Activity. In: Yehuda, S., Mostofsky, D.I. (eds) Nutrients, Stress, and Medical Disorders. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-952-4:245

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