Certain foods help fight depression, says new study; salmon and walnuts among items named

• Could your next meal help relieve depression?
• Perhaps, if the menu includes fatty fish like salmon or herring fish, walnuts, sugar beets or beet molasses.
• Those foods contain substances that had an antidepressant effect in tests on rats, researchers report in the Feb. 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry.
• The substances are omega-3 fatty acids (search) and uridine (search).
• Abundant omega-3 fatty acids are found in certain fish --- especially in fatty fish like salmon and herring --- as well as walnuts and flaxseed.
• Studies have found that societies that eat lots of fish have lower depression rates, possibly due to omega-3 fatty acids.
• But in America, where fish isn't a dietary staple, depression is common.
• Nearly 19 million people per year in the U.S. have depression, says the National Institute of Mental Health (search).
• The new study comes from William Carlezon Jr., PhD, and colleagues from McLean Hospital's psychiatry department.
• Lastly, they tried combining lower doses of both uridine and omega-3 fatty acids.
• The rats stopped acting helpless and did their best, even though the test was still stacked against them.
• The uridine injections acted right away, but the omega-3 fatty acids took 30 days to kick in.
• That's about as long as it takes for people to get depression relief from many antidepressant drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (search) (SSRIs), say the researchers.
• Any supplements added to your regular medications have the potential to cause a serious interaction, so check with your health care provider to make sure it's safe.
• As for uridine, sugar beets and beet molasses are food sources.
• Diet may be one piece of the puzzle, but depression is too serious to handle on your own.