Omega 3 and anxiety (2011)
This study investigated omega 3 and anxiety. The study set out to determine if omega-3 fish oil supplementation could improve both anxiety levels and inflammation in a group of 68 medical students who didn’t have a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder but could be expected to be experiencing some level of anxiety as medical exams were coming up. The researchers measured anxiety levels, and took blood tests to measure markers of inflammation (known as proinflammatory cytokines). The subjects were given either a high dose fish oil (2g of the omega-3 EPA and 348mg of DHA) or a placebo capsule daily for 12 weeks. At this point, the measurements were taken again and these showed that those who had taken the fish oil had both lower levels of anxiety and lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines.
Omega-3 supplementation reduces anxiety and inflammation in healthy young adults. Kiecolt–Glaser et al., 2011