Andrew Huberman· PhD
And what was really interesting in addition to that is that the combination of a thousand milligrams of EPA and Fluoxetine had a synergistic effect in lowering depressive symptoms.
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And what was really interesting in addition to that is that the combination of a thousand milligrams of EPA and Fluoxetine had a synergistic effect in lowering depressive symptoms.
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What they did is they took people who were clinically depressed, major depression. Major depression is severe maladaptive state meaning it inhibits job, relationships, appetite, all sorts of negative health effects. And they did a comparison of a thousand milligrams a day of EPA. So EPA is one of the elements that contains high levels of omega-3's that's in things like fish oil, I'll talk about other sources in a little bit but it wasn't a thousand milligrams of fish oil. It was a thousand milligrams of EPA. Compared that to 20 milligrams of Fluoxetine which is Prozac, okay. Really increases serotonin. And in this study of 60 individuals, again, I'll provide the links to the study. They found that they were equally effective in reducing depressive symptoms.
And I should mention that some of the same studies have shown that increasing our intake of these essential fatty acids, in particular, the EPA variety of omega-3s, can lower the effective dose of things like SSRIs. Meaning if we required a 50 milligram or 40 milligram dose of fluoxetine, that one can get by on a lower dose and thereby perhaps not experience as many or as severe side effects by taking or supplementing with EPAs.
One of those approaches is to increase our intake of so-called EPAs or Essential Fatty Acids. There's now a very long list of papers in quality peer review journals showing that when people ingest a certain level of EPA omega-3 fatty acids, the relief from depressive symptoms matches the SSRIs.
And what was really interesting, in addition to that, is that the combination of 1,000 milligrams of EPA and fluoxetine had a synergistic effect in lowering depressive symptoms.
They found that they were equally effective in reducing depressive symptoms.
One of those approaches is to increase our intake of so-called EPAs, or essential fatty acids. Increasing our intake of these essential fatty acids, and in particular, the EPA variety of omega-3s, can lower the effective dose of things like SSRIs.