Eating fish reduces risk of depression: research

September 27, 2017

TOKYO- People who often eat fish, including so-called blue-backed fish such as saury, face a lower risk of suffering depression than those consuming less, a team of researchers from institutes including Japan's National Cancer Center has said.

In its research findings that were announced in a US medical magazine, the team said that n-3 fatty acids, which have various effects such as anti-inflammatory action, are in blue-backed and other fish and that the substances are believed to contribute to lower risks of depression.

In Japan, saury, mackerel, sardine and some other fish are called blue-backed fish, or aozakana in Japanese, because of the blue color on their backs.

The research covered 1,181 men and women aged between 40 and 59 in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. Between 1990 and 2015, the team tracked how much blue-backed and other fish the participants ate and checked if they were depressed in 2014-2015. Jiji Press