I’ve been wanting to make a post about fish oil for a while now, and finally got around to it. I know many of you are very savvy when it comes to natural health, and I’m sure a lot of you are already taking fish oil so I’m not going to cover the the same benefits you probably already know about. Things like it’s good for your heart and can lower cholesterol.

Instead I want to talk about how fish oil can be a natural way to deal with depression. In other words taking fish oil can make you happy.

Research has shown that even a small quantity of omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) can be very beneficial in overcoming the symptoms related to depression, like anxiety and melancholy.

Here’s a quote from WebMD

In a new study, people who added a daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids to their regular antidepressant treatment had significant improvement in symptoms, including anxiety, sleeping problems, sadness, decreased sexual desire, and suicidal tendencies.

The book “The Omega-3 Connection” penned by Andrew L. Stoll assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School reveals the same thing. Here’s what he says about fish oil:

Restoring our body’s natural balance of omega-3s may help alleviate (and prevent) many types of depression–even for those who don’t respond to traditional antidepressants. Omega-3s may also prove helpful with other problems, such as the inability to handle stress, memory loss, and cognitive decline.

Depression is an imbalanced state of mind. We know that brain has high concentrations of DHA, which are very much essential for the proper development and functioning of the brain, and are also found in fish oil.

So basic concept behind the use of fish oil for brightening your mood is to make sure you’re getting enough of it. You should try to get at least 1 g of EPA/DHA from fish oil a day. You’ll want to make sure you measure it by the amount of EPA/DHA not the amount of fish oil because there is a difference so check the product label.

You can get this in your normal diet, or by taking fish oil supplements. I find it’s much easier to just take supplements.

If you’re taking fish oil supplements make sure you use pharmaceutical grade fish oil such as Nutrivato’s Pharmaceutical Grade Odorless Fish Oil because it undergoes a treatment of molecular distillation, which eliminates any contamination that could find its way in the fish. I know how tempting those discount vitamins can be but this is something you’re putting in your body, and you should always try to use the highest quality supplements that you can find.

Fish oil and bad breath

Like many good things, fish oil has some annoying side effects right. Well there’s no life threatening side effects that I’ve heard of (like the kind found in prescription drugs), but there is one minor one – fish breath.

The good news is you can buy fish oil that won’t make your breath smell “fishy”. These brands cost a little more, but if your personal or professional life require social interaction it might be a good idea to spend the extra money.