Eating fish, especially those containing one polyunsaturated fatty acid, appears to be associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in adolescent boys — but not in girls — Japanese researchers reported.
In a study of more than 6,500 Japanese teenagers, the highest intake of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) — one of two omega-3 fatty acids found in certain fish — was associated with reduced odds of depressive symptoms in boys (P for trend=0.04) according to Kentaro Murakami, PhD, of the University of Tokyo, and colleagues.
But for reasons that remain unclear, the same links weren't seen among girls in the cross-sectional study of junior high students in two cities on the island of Okinawa, the researchers reported online in the journal Pediatrics.
These findings add to the varied and often contradictory evidence about the relationship of depression with consumption of fish and the two long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fats — EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) — contained in fish such as mackerel and salmon, Murakami and colleagues noted.
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