Omega 3 supplementation failed to augment the effects of the anti-depressant drug sertraline, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

This randomized, controlled trial, which took place between May 2005 and December 2008, involved 122 patients in St Louis, MO, with major depression and coronary heart disease (CHD).

After a 2-week run-in period, all patients were given 50 mg/d of sertraline and randomized in double-blind fashion to receive 2 grams/d of omega 3 acid ethyl esters (930 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and 750 mg of docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]) (n=62) or corn oil placebo capsules (n=60) for 10 weeks.

Subjects were evaluated on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D).

According to study results, the groups did not differ on predefined indicators of depression remission. Researchers concluded: “Treatment of patients with CHD and major depression with sertraline and omega 3 fatty acids did not result in superior depression outcomes at 10 weeks, compared with sertraline and placebo.”

However, researchers also noted that future evaluations should determine whether higher doses of omega 3 or sertraline, a different ratio of EPA to DHA, longer treatment, or omega 3 monotherapy can improve depression in patients with CHD.

Daniel Fabricant, PhD, interim executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association, Washington, D.C., noted that this was a “drug study,” not a study on nutritionals.

“There is a paradigm shift in clinical trials from taking an overall approach, to mining all data and measuring subgroups the researchers haven’t analyzed, which may provide valuable information,” he said. “Moreover, heart disease is very different from one person to the next. Why would we expect them to respond the same to more than one intervention in the study?

“Using dietary supplements containing DHA and EPA may reduce sudden cardiac deaths in high-risk patients, improve depression, and enhance the efficacy of antidepressants as EPA and DHA have been shown to do in other studies,” he continued. “Much remains to be done in terms of research.”