September 10, 2015 — Can eating a lot of fish boost your mood? Maybe, say Chinese researchers.
Overall, the researchers found that people who consumed the most fish lowered their risk of depression by 17 percent compared to those who ate the least.
“Studies we reviewed indicated that high fish consumption can reduce the incidence of depression, which may indicate a potential causal relationship between fish consumption and depression,” said lead researcher Fang Li, of the department of epidemiology and health statistics at the Medical College of Qingdao University in China.
But this association was only statistically significant for studies done in Europe, the researchers said. They didn’t find the same benefit when they looked at studies done in North America, Asia, Australia or South America. The researchers don’t know why the association was only significant for fish consumption in Europe.
The study was also only able to show an association between eating fish and the risk for depression, not that eating fish causes a lower risk for depression, Li said.