The Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on the Prevention of Bipolar Disorder

For the past 3 1/2 weeks, I have been taking my final course of this year, that is, Abnormal Psychology. And let me tell you, I have been SUPER excited for this class ever since I signed up for it last spring. My favourite teacher, Megan Bulloch taught in her always fun and exciting style. Almost everyday we talked about one or two different psychological disorders through case studies, integrated lectures, and youtube videos (hahahah). Like most classes at Quest, we were assigned a final project of our choice involving the topic of the course. I'm not going to lie, I was having my difficulties finding the perfect project for me because I wanted to incorporate my question as well as find something that interested me.

After many, many hours of researching all the different links between nutrition and mental illness (this was not easy at all!), I finally found some research projects involving omega-3 fatty acids and bipolar disorder. Now, I have to tell you, I really wasn't stoked to do a project on omega-3. With all the hype in the media about this miracle nutrient, I was kind of second-guessing it's importance. I thought of it as another fad diet thingy like the acia berry and the low-carb diets. But I thought that if I studied it, maybe I would then know for sure whether omega-3 was essential to have in our diets or if all the hype about it was just some media fad. So, I decided to go against my rebellion of the nutrient and research more about how it effected the mind and body.

To my surprise, I found out why omega-3 fatty acids are so important. They regulate the communication between neurons. So basically, having omega-3 fatty acids in our diets help our neurons fire when they need to and also prevent them when they don't need to. This is REALLY important. You can see neuron communication problems in many mental disorders such as Turrets Syndrome when neurons are activated constantly and for no apparent reason. The project I chose to study was whether or not omega-3's effect the onset of bipolar disorder. I found that there seems to be a link between the two. In adults with bipolar disorder, an increase of omega-3's in their diets have been shown to reduce the depression symptoms from the disorder. In children with bipolar disorder, an increase of omega-3's in their diets seems to reduce both the depression as well as the manic symptoms. Cool, huh?!

But the project wasn't that straightforward. We were asked to design our own research project and to write a formal proposal and present it to the class as if we were presenting to a funding agency. This got me thinking, "How can I create a research project that takes the research I have found to the next level?" And then it hit me. I wanted to create an experiment to see if increasing the omega-3's in children with the RISK of getting bipolar disorder would PREVENT them from getting the disorder all together.

I had three reasons why I chose to do this project.

1. Throughout the course, we only talked about how to treat patients with mental disorders but we never talked about how to prevent them in the first place. Therefore, this experiment could do that. It's the next step!

2. We know that bipolar disorder has a genetic link. Therefore, we know which children are at risk of getting the disorder.

3. It was BOLD! A new idea. And fun!

I've attached a copy of the research proposal below. Feel free to read it and ask any questions that you come up with.

Final Research Proposal - Omega-3 and BD

Here is a copy of my powerpoint as well. If you would like the notes, just email me and I'll send you a copy. :)

Omega-3 and Bipolar Presentation -