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08.11.2016

One capsule of fish oil daily lowers cortisol levels

A modest dose of one gram of fish oil per day lowers cortisol levels, write Italian researchers in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. The participants in the study were alcohol addicts who were doing a detox, but the cortisol lowering effect of fish oil is no different in healthy people.

Alcohol, cortisol & stress
If alcohol addicts stop drinking their cortisol level rises. [Am J Psychiatry. 1991 Aug;148(8):1023-5.] The effect is temporary, but the accompany feelings of stress and anxiety play a role in the failure of many attempts to stop drinking.

Because there are indications that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil reduce cortisol levels [J Complement Integr Med. 2012 Oct 23;9.] [Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2011 Mar-Apr;84(3-4):71-8.] [Psychiatry Res. 2010 Jun 30;178(1):112-5.], researchers at the Universita Politecnica delle Marche wondered whether fish oil supplementation would lower cortisol secretions in this group.

Study
The Italians did an experiment with 31 alcoholics who were trying to detox under guidance. Ten of them were given a placebo every day for 21 days; the remaining 21 subjects were given a capsule containing 1000 mg fish oil.

Each capsule contained 252 mg DHA and 60 mg EPA. The researchers used supplements made by the Italian company Salix. [salix.it]

Results
Just before administration of the fish oil or placebo capsules started [t0], the researchers monitored the subjects' cortisol concentrations in their saliva for twenty-four hours. They did the same on the last day of administration [t21].

The first figure below shows that the omega-3 fatty acids lowered the subjects' cortisol concentrations. The second figure shows that the placebo capsules had no effect.

Fish oil supplementation also reduced the feelings of stress that the subjects reported. The researchers used the Perceived Stress Scale [PSS10], where the maximum score is 40 and the lowest 0.

Conclusion
"Present results show that supplementing male abstinent alcoholics with omega-3 fatty acids: (1) decreases stress and anxiety symptoms and (2) reduces basal cortisol secretion levels", the researchers summarised. "The application to a relatively unselected cohort of abstinent alcoholics, together with the broad availability of omega-3 supplements, makes these results quite generalizable, and the present experience replicable in most realities."

"Collectively, these findings suggest that an elevated dietary omega-3 fatty acids intake may represent a subsidiary measure to increase the efficacy of rehabilitation programmes in alcohol dependent persons and provide a valid support during withdrawal from alcohol."

Source:
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2013 Jun;57(6):1110-4.

More:
Fish oil reduces mental stress 21.11.2010

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