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New research suggests that fish oil may prevent the transition from a subthreshold psychotic state to full-blown psychosis.
The study showed a 22.6% difference in risk of progression to psychosis in vulnerable young people taking a 12-week course of fish oil supplements compared with those taking a placebo. The benefits of the supplements were sustained up to 1 year.
The fish oil intervention "may at least delay, but probably prevent, the onset of schizophrenia, and that’s just great news," lead study author G. Paul Amminger, MD, Oxygen Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia, told Medscape Psychiatry.
In contrast to antipsychotic drugs, fish oil supplements prevent cell deterioration in the brain and lower levels of damaging triglycerides, said Dr. Amminger. The supplements are made of a "natural substance" that is publicly acceptable and offers benefits to general, as well as mental, health, he added.
The study is published in the February issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
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