2022 Volume 22 Issue 7 Pages 337-341
According to a WHO report, more than 20% of the world’s elderly population (aged 60 or above) suffers from psychiatric and neurological disorders, with the most common psychiatric and neurological disorders being dementia and depression, which affect approximately 5% and 7% of the world’s elderly population, respectively1). A major difference from depression in younger people is that in the elderly, depression is associated with heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and dementia2), which may delay diagnosis and treatment in primary care and maybe overlooked untreated. Therefore, primary prevention through lifestyle improvement is important. Nutritional approaches have been widely reported over the past 20 years, and among them, seafood and its active ingredient, ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (hereinafter referred to as ω3), are considered to be the most promising. Results of meta-analyses integrating observational studies have been associated with risk reduction3, 4), and meta-analyses of intervention studies have also shown a beneficial effect5). In this review, we would like to discuss the relationship between seafood, ω3, and depression in elderly subjects and the mechanism of the association, including reports from our studies.
