The Army is eager to know whether omega-3 fatty acids not only are good for the heart, but also might deter soldiers from killing themselves.
"I'm all over it, because I'm looking for something to help," says Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, who has been working for years to reduce the service's record number of suicides.
Research published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry last month showed that men in the service with low levels of an omega-3 fatty acid known as docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, were 62% more likely to commit suicide. The researchers compared routine blood samples taken from 800 servicemembers from 2002 to 2008 — and who months later committed suicide — with samples taken from 800 other servicemembers.
The authors say their findings do not suggest fish oil is a way to deter suicides. The Army suicide rate reached 22 per 100,000 last year, higher than civilians of the same age group.
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