Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acid.
Meditations / Pixabay – Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acid.

Depression has many causes. Abuse, prescription medicines, work or family conflict, diet, inflammation, sudden loss of a close friend or family member, continual financial problems, etc. are just a few.

Treating abuse is not the same as treating the sudden death of a family member. Prescription drugs deaden our senses. They treat the symptoms, not the cause. Exercise, alcohol, sex, and donuts treat the symptoms. Depression is still there, maybe a bit further in the background.

Inflammation can be the result of diet, stress, obesity, smoking, disruptive personal relationships and much more. If you can treat a cause and effectively eliminate it and still have depression, you know that it was not the cause that affected you. Move onto the next one and conquer it.

Inflammation as the cause of depression is an established fact. In 2016, scientists in Japan discovered that there is a close link between people (over 2000 men and women) with chronic inflammation and low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acid is a well-known anti-inflammatory.

Omega-3 fatty acid can be added to a prescription therapy and reduces the impact of depression. Omega-3 fatty acid doesn’t work over night. It does take time.

Sometimes we take supplemental omega-3 fatty acid and think we are getting enough. However, omega-6 fatty acid, when taken in excess, creates inflammation. Most vegetable oils are omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acid is also an additive to many processed foods. Inflammation can be caused by significantly more omega-6 fatty acid than omega-3 fatty in your daily diet.

We need omega-6 fatty acids in our diet. But, we don’t need the quantity of them typical in the American diet. A ratio of 1:1 omega-6 fatty acid to omega-3 fatty acid is considered ideal. Anything more than 4:1 ratio of omega-6 fatty acid to omega-3 fatty acid is entering the inflammatory range. It is not uncommon for Americans to have a ratio more than 30:1 omega-6 fatty acid to omega-3 fatty acid.

Reduce the omega-6 fatty acids and increase the omega-3 fatty acids in your diet. Good natural food sources of omega-3 fatty acid are oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, tuna, sardines, anchovies, etc.), walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseeds, hemp seeds, and egg yolks. A quarter cup of walnuts gives you over 2500 mg of omega-3 fatty acid.

Treat the cause of a problem to eliminate it. Treating symptoms might make you feel better, but you will always be treating the symptoms. As always, if you are on prescription meds, consult your physician before increasing your omega-3 fatty acid consumption. Omega-3 fatty acids thin the blood and might be a problem if you are currently on a blood thinning medicine. There might be other conflicts, so talk to your doctor before making any changes in your life.

 

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