“Studies have shown that omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), might have beneficial effects on somatic and mental health, potentially partly due to their mitigating effects on three major biological stress systems: the immune-inflammatory system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis, and the autonomic nervous system.”
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“….2724 participants from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety.”
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“Participants had a mean age of 41.8 and 65.7% were female.”
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Higher levels of all three inflammation markers, evening cortisol and heart rate were significantly negatively associated with omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids . Suggesting an exposure-response relationship, a higher number of markers indicative of inflammation and hyperactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis, but not of autonomic nervous system dysregulation, was found in persons with lower omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids levels.”
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“An exposure-response relationship was also found for having a higher number of different stress system dysregulations with lower omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids levels. For DHA, results were in line with those for omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, although with slightly smaller effect sizes.”
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“Our study confirmed that having various (cumulative) indicators of dysregulation of three biological stress systems was significantly associated with lower omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and DHA plasma levels. If low omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids levels are the cause of dysregulated stress systems, then omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids supplementation might reduce biological stress and thereby improve somatic and mental health.”
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C.S.Thesing, et al
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid levels and dysregulations in biological stress systems
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 97 — November 2018 — page 206