Fish Oil Supplements Don't Help Depressed Heart Patients

Oct. 21 -- TUESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- In a surprise and not very welcome finding, researchers report that fish oil supplements do not ease depression in individuals who suffer from both depression and coronary heart disease.

Participants in the study, which is published in the Oct. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, were also taking the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft). Some studies have suggested that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish might enhance the effects of Zoloft.

"Unfortunately, it's not where we wanted to be. We were kind of disappointed, to say the least," said study author Robert M. Carney, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The findings leave physicians still facing the problem of how to boost depression recovery rates so as to also lower cardiovascular risk. The question is a pressing one, given that depression can double or even triple the risk of dying in heart patients, Carney said.

"We're not just treating depression, we're treating a risk factor," he said.

Fish oil, or omega-3 fatty acid, supplements have been touted as a potential panacea for a variety of ailments, notably heart disease, but they have been losing their luster as of late.

A study published earlier this year found that patients receiving optimal drug therapy after experiencing a heart attack do not gain any additional benefit from taking supplemental omega-3 fatty acids. There was no difference in rates of heart attack, stroke, sudden cardiac death or death from any cause, regardless of whether they were taking the supplements or not.

That finding contradicted previous studies, which suggested that taking omega-3 fatty acids improved long-term survival.

Studies involving omega-3 fatty acids and depression have shown similarly uneven results.

For this study, 122 patients with major depression and coronary heart disease took 50 milligrams of Zoloft a day, then were randomized to receive either 2 grams a day of omega-3 acid ethyl esters or a corn-oil placebo capsule.