It is a daunting task, sorting the wheat from the chaff when it comes to working out which nutritional supplements might be helpful for any given condition.

When it comes to depression, however, help is at hand, in the form of a major meta-review of clinical trials conducted all over the world, involving more than 10,000 patients being treated for mental illness.

The upshot? As reported in the Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network, “According to the study, adjunctive treatment with omega-3 supplements reduced symptoms of major depression more than antidepressants alone.”

The study’s authors noted that poor diets, with an excess of high-fat and high-sugar foods and an inadequate intake of nutrient-dense foods, are closely associated with mental disorders, and were careful to point out that no supplement is a substitute for an improved diet.

In other words, eating mackerel and salmon is a good start.

The review was published in September 2019 in World Psychiatry. The study’s lead author was Joseph Firth, PhD, senior research fellow at Western Sydney University in Australia.

You can read more here:

The original paper, World Psychiatry, via Wiley Online LIbrary: “The efficacy and safety of nutrient supplements in the treatment of mental disorders: a meta-review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials.”

An article about the study, in Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network: “Meta-Review Finds Support for Omega-3 as Adjunctive Depression Treatment.”

Where can you find natural sources of omega-3? MedicalNewsToday lists seafood and vegetarian & vegan sources here.

And if you are looking at rows of Omega-3 bottles at your pharmacy and wondering if any of them actually contain omega-3, GOED Omega-3 is a global organization devoted to making sure that you are buying quality Omega-3s, and it lists suppliers whose Omega-3 products adhere to the voluntary GOED quality guidelines.