According to AOR, who seem to be pretty thorough in their research of supplements, it is better when taking Omega 3 (fish oil supplements) to take mostly EPA with little to no DHA at all. To dumb down their viewpoint on this they claim that DHA is mostly useful for brain structure and after the brain is fully developed, as in an adult, there is little need for DHA as a supplement. EPA on the other hand aids brain function and is used up by the brain on a continual basis and thus requires replenishment through diet. EPA is also the part useful in treating depression and mood symptoms. They appear to be making the claim that DHA has little to no effect on brain function and that it could possibly diminish cognitive performance a little.
Anyone want to chime in on this? Should we all (if we are an adult with a fully developed brain) be taking just EPA as a supplement and try to limit DHA ingestion?
http://www.aor.ca/ht...ducts.php?id=74
Sorry, that link didn't really work out so here is their research
Pharmaceutical-Grade EPA, not DHA, for Healthy Mood and Thought Patterns
The common thinking on the different functions of the different omega-3s is: EPA for the heart, DHA for the brain.
There's a reasonable-sounding argument behind this notion, based on the fact that DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, or 22:6w3) is a major component of the brain, while there's only a tiny amount of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid, or 20:5w3) in the nervous system. So when research started to show that countries and individuals who consumed more fish seemed more resistant to depression, schizophrenia, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and bipolar disorder, almost everyone leapt to the conclusion that the seaborne secret just had to be DHA.
Not that it made any practical difference, of course: after all, nearly all EPA and DHA supplements come in the form of concentrated fish oil softgels with a significant amount of both fatty acids. So, the assumption was, you could get both benefits in one pill by just taking a common fish oil supplement.
Nice-sounding theory. But, as a series of randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trials have shown, dead wrong.
Running our expectations through the spin cycle, resent research has revealed that DHA is, at best, useless when it comes to supporting the health of your thought patterns and outlook on the world. Worse: DHA may even be counterproductive. Surprisingly, EPA turns out to be the real slayer of the "Noonday Demons."
DHA: Brain Fat? Or Fat Chance?
• In one trial, researchers tested the effects of pure DHA on victims of clinical depression. For six weeks, people suffering with major depression took a supplement containing either pure DHA (two grams (2000 milligrams) a day or an inactive stand-in oil for six weeks. At the end of the trial, DHA had exerted no detectable effect whatsoever.
• In an even more pointed failure, researchers ran a trial to see if DHA supplements could prevent the depression and deficits in information processing associated with postpartum depression. This seemed like an especially good opportunity for DHA to strut its stuff, because women's levels of DHA usually decline late in their pregnancies, and they remain depressed for months after the birth of their child. Instead, the results were a complete flop. Women taking DHA supplements were no less depressed, and no better able to process information, than were women taking an inert fatty acid softgel, even though their DHA levels were much higher.
• A third trial sought to lay plain the differing effects of EPA and DHA on thought patterns and mental functioning - focusing this time on people suffering from schizophrenia. Forty-five people diagnosed with the disease were randomly assigned to begin using either two grams of high-EPA oil, the same amount of high-DHA oil, or a corn oil placebo, with no one knowing who was taking what.
The results in the DHA group were surprising. At best, they had gotten no better than people on the dummy pill. And overall, in fact, the subjects administered DHA appeared to fare worse than in the placebo group. Although the differences did not reach the statistical level of significance, there was actually a higher percentage of people taking DHA who were either treading water or showing further decay at the end of the trial than was seen with the placebo. On top of this, whereas the severity of so-called "positive" symptoms (delusions, psychoses, etc) had fallen by an average of 13.7% in patients taking the placebo, it was only reduced by 3.3% in DHA-treated subjects. In other words, it appears that patients get more relief from their "positive" symptoms if they take an inactive dummy pill than if they take DHA - suggesting that DHA may even interfere with the progress that they could otherwise make if they just continue with their conventional treatment.
It was a whole different picture in the pure EPA group. Every single one of the people who had taken the EPA-only supplement got better, with an even split between the number of people showing considerable improvements (more than 25%) on their symptom scores and the number showing more minor improvements.
• To make sure the results hadn't been some kind of wild fluke, the same group initiated a second trial to confirm the powers of EPA-only supplements. For three months, 30 relapsing schizophrenia sufferers who were not already taking drugs for their conditions took either straight EPA or placebo capsules as their sole encapsulated support - unless, during the course of the trial, their doctors deemed it clinically imperative to put them on antipsychotics, in which case the patients' safety came first and medication was permitted. But no one would know who was getting EPA, and who was taking the stand-in oil capsules. At the end of the trial, 100% of the people taking the dummy pill had been forced to go on an antipsychotic drug - versus only 57% of the EPA users.
The Power of EPA Confirmed
Since then, three more randomized, placebo-controlled trials have been performed using highly purified EPA supplements to help people with schizophrenia - and two such trials have been performed in victims of clinical depression. There have also been an additional two studies in schizophrenics, and an additional one in victims of depression, using either very high doses of omega-3 supplements containing mostly EPA (but still including some DHA), or such a supplement combined with antioxidants.
All but one of these eight trials showed that the EPA-containing supplements brought relief from these mental torments - and in that one trial, the problem seems to have been the use of excessively high doses.
• In one trial, for instance, 20 patients with major depressive disorder were randomly given either 2 grams of pure EPA or a matching stand-in for four weeks. Even in this short period, sixty percent of the people taking pure EPA experienced a remarkable 50% or greater reduction in their scores of depression, versus just ten percent of people taking the placebo. On average, the relief was clocked as a remarkable 12.4 point improvement on the Hamilton depression scale scores in EPA users - versus just a 1.6 point improvement among people stuck with the lookalike pills.
• Another double-blind trial compared the effects of EPA to the antidepressant drug fluoxetine in patients with major depressive disorder. EPA supplements were found to be as effective as the drug, with a response rate of 50% to fluoxetine, 56% to EPA and 81% to a combination of both.
Summarizing the evidence from these reports, the lead researcher in the trial which originally identified the opposing effects of EPA and DHA concluded that "In both schizophrenia and depression, the studies indicate that DHA is, if anything, rather worse than placebo in its effects on symptomology. Only EPA has given significant positive benefits."
Bipolar Disorder
Harvard Medical School performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial using high-dose fish oil supplements in 30 people trapped in bipolar disorder ("manic depression") in 1999, using the amount of long-chain omega-3s found in 32 standard fish oil capsules. At the end of the study, 86% of the people who had been taking the megadose EPA-containing oil were still free of relapse - versus only 38% of the people taking the placebo. Based on the research showing that DHA is at best an empty filler, and may even undermine the effects of EPA in schizophrenia and depression, the reason that the study required so much omega-3 may be that the high content of DHA in the supplement would have forced people to take still higher amounts of EPA to make it effective. Dr. Andrew Stoll, the lead investigator in the Harvard bipolar trial, says that his "clinical observation" is that "too much DHA relative to EPA may cause a worsening of mood. I therefore recommend using a supplement with as high an EPA content as possible".
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
Having seen the convincing results experienced by EPA users with other disorders of the mind and personality, scientists initiated a pilot randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of EPA in 30 women plagued by BPD. The results were not earth-shattering - but they were significant. While symptoms improved in both groups, BPD sufferers taking the pure EPA supplements experienced greater reductions in both depression (about 15% more improved) and aggression (a 10% additional improvement) than did victims taking the placebo.
While the responses were not overwhelming, they were real - and it's worth remembering that BPD doesn't respond well to conventional drug therapies, either. Any relief from the nightmare of this disease represents an advance. Additionally, the dose in this pilot study may not have been optimal, and the authors called for "Studies assessing different doses of E-EPA for longer periods of time in larger samples".
What's the Story on these Morning Glories?
What is the key function of EPA in the brain that underlies its ability to support the health of the mind? The truth is, we don't know- at least, not with certainty. But we do have a good working hypothesis. Pioneering essential fatty acid researcher Ralph Holman put the core insight succinctly: "DHA is structure. EPA is function."
DHA is an essential structural component of nerve cells, needed in large amounts to build the brain during embryonic and childhood development. But once the brain and nervous system has matured, the developed brain's day-to-day DHA needs are minimal.
By contrast, although only a small amount of EPA is present in brain cell membranes at any given time, that small quantity is continuously being used up, necessitating ongoing replacement. EPA is quickly "turned over" as the brain ceaselessly releases EPA from its cell membranes for use in "signal transduction," conveying neurochemical messages within neurons just as neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine carry messages between them. EPA also fine-tunes and balances the signaling carried out by the brain's main omega-6 fat, arachidonic acid (AA). Because EPA is biochemically consumed in the process of carrying out its signal transduction role, the brain has a need for a large, steady supply of new EPA to keep functioning optimally.
The reason why DHA might actually worsen symptoms in people with mood and thought pattern disorders is less clear, but may simply be a matter of displacement. There's only so much "room" available for unsaturated fatty acids in the phospholipids of the brain's cellular membranes, and taking extra DHA (which is already plentiful in the brain) may squeeze out EPA by competing with it for the limited number of spots available to be filled when these phospholipids are being biosynthesized. Taking EPA supplements, by contrast, guarantees that the brain can meet its needs for a continuous, reliable supply of EPA, ensuring that adequate EPA is available when the brain needs it for signal transduction.
However it works, the evidence is clear. People looking to harness the power of omega-3 fatty acids for the health of their brains should look to supplements rich in EPA - and with as little DHA as possible.
The Wonky Well
Clinical depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder are serious illnesses which require qualified medical diagnosis and treatment. For people suffering with these disorders, the new research on EPA is very good news: with physician guidance, it suggests, high doses of this biologically essential orthomolecule in purified form may complement the conventional therapies already prescribed by their doctors.
Fortunately, of course, most of us do not suffer from such extreme psychic disturbances. But that doesn't mean that our minds are as clear, our feelings as stable, our responses to the world as reasonable, or our outlooks on life as bright as they could be - or should be, for our own health and happiness. We don't just want to be "non-insane," in other words: we want to be dynamically engaged with life, grasping the world in both hands and squeezing forth its sweet nectar. The good news, this research suggests, is that when not encumbered by DHA, pharmaceutical-grade EPA supplements can open your brain to the real possibilities around you, shattering the "mind forg'd manacles" that are holding you back from experiencing life's joys to their fullest
