There's a good article on the importance of Omega-3s in depression in the
8/24/02 issue of New Scientist by anthropologist Meredith F. Small.

Some quotes: "For a start our modern intake is very different to what our
ancestors were eating when the human brain evolved. They roamed the
savannahs hunting for wild game, ate lots of leafy greens and seem to have
had a taste for fish and seafood. With settled agriculture, which began
about 10,000 years ago, people started to rely on cultivated foods, and the
consumption of fish and wild game declined. The result was a decrease in
omega-3 intake and an increase in the alternative type of polyunsaturated
fatty acid, omega-6."

"The average annual consumption of soy oil in the US stands at 11 kilograms.
It accounts for 83 per cent of all the fats we eat...our diets now contain
16 times as much omega-6 as omega-3, whereas a century ago we would have
been getting about equal amounts of each."

"When a Western diet full of processed and fried food infiltrates a culture,
the rate of depression rises."

"In countries where people eat the least fish the rate of depression is
highest, and vice versa"

It also cites studies testing omega-3 in depression.



_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx