Omega-3s not tied to women's mental sharpness

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK | Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:12pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who consume plenty of omega-3 fatty acids may not have better thinking and memory skills as a result, according to a new study.

Some researchers have suggested that fatty acids found in fish and fish oil supplements might protect against memory loss.

But studies trying to test that theory have been "all over the place," said Dr. Jennifer G. Robinson from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, senior author of the new report.

"There's nothing really convincing, (in) one direction or the other," she told Reuters Health.

To address the uncertainty, she and her colleagues analyzed data collected as part of the large Women's Health Initiative trial focused on hormone replacement therapy.

For the new study, they compared women's fatty acid levels to their performance on six years' worth of thinking and memory tests.

The study included 2,157 women ages 65 to 80, and Robinson's team looked at their levels of two omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The researchers also adjusted for the effects of hormone therapy in the women who were taking it.

On seven kinds of thinking and memory tests, Robinson and her colleagues found no differences between the one-third of women with the lowest omega-3 levels and the one-third with the highest levels.

That was after also taking into account other health and lifestyle factors, like whether women smoked and how much they exercised.

The tests measured women's short-term memory for numbers and pictures and their ability to recognize shapes that are flipped or rotated, for example.

Scores on those exams did decline gradually over time, but there was no link between a woman's omega-3 levels and how far or fast her scores fell, the study team reports in Neurology.

Robinson said Women's Health Initiative participants tended to be healthy and well-educated, which may have bolstered their "cognitive reserve" and protected against memory loss - even without extra omega-3 fatty acids. It's possible, she added, that the fatty acids would make a bigger difference among less-advantaged women.

Or, it may be that researchers would have to measure fatty acids over longer periods of time to see a link with thought processing. The blood levels used here probably only reflect diet over several months, she said.

"It's just one snapshot, one point in time," Robinson said. "The feeling as we look at all these chronic diseases … is it's really what happens over your lifetime that's important in terms of diet and physical activity."

Alan Dangour, who has studied fatty acids and memory at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said omega-3s are important for brain development early in life. But after that, the data get a bit fuzzier.

"There is no good evidence to support the consumption of omega-3 supplements to promote or maintain cognitive health in later life," Dangour, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health in an email.

"However, omega-3 fatty acids are an important part of the diet and may have other health benefits," he said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/Q5TNl Neurology, online September 25, 2013.

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Panel urges awareness of student-athlete mental health

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK | Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:21pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Athletic trainers should be on the lookout for mental health problems among student-athletes, a panel said on Wednesday.

Representatives from the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other organizations said athletic trainers are in a unique position to reach out to college athletes and refer them to counseling.

"As an athletic trainer, we're usually right there with the student-athletes during some of their worst moments," Timothy Neal, chair of the task force and assistant director of athletics for sports medicine at Syracuse University in New York, said. "You have their trust."

About 30 percent of college-aged people reported having some type of mental illness during 2010 and 2011, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Neal said he has seen everything from athletes with anxiety and eating disorders to those who are suicidal. Some students come to him for help, but in other cases he reaches out when it seems like something's not quite right.

"What I look for is someone who is acting opposite of as you know them - someone who's more irritable than they normally would be, someone who's more withdrawn than they normally would be," Neal told Reuters Health.

When that's the case, athletic trainers should approach students and offer to refer them for counseling services at the school or in the community. It helps to already have a relationship with those services, Neal said, and to talk with mental health counselors about the particular stressors facing student-athletes.

Athletic trainers should also be prepared to make an emergency referral if student-athletes are a threat to themselves or others, the task force noted. Trainers should follow the protocol of their institution and call law enforcement if the person is violent.

Neal said he talks with student-athletes at the beginning of every season about the importance of psychological health to try to reduce the stigma associated with having a mental health problem.

It can be especially difficult to convince athletes that it's okay to have a mental illness, Dr. Thomas L. Schwenk, dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Reno, who has studied mental illness among athletes, said.

"With special populations, especially populations of people who are particularly goal-oriented, particularly high achievers, particularly focused, there still is a sense of stigmatization, a sense of shame," Schwenk, who was not part of the task force, told Reuters Health.

"We still have to work really hard with special populations like student-athletes to help them understand that they get sick just like everybody else, they have mental health problems just like everybody else."

A particular time to be aware of psychological issues is when athletes get injured and have to take time out from their sport, according to the task force's recommendations, published in the Journal of Athletic Training.

"Many athletes especially at a collegiate level identify themselves as a person as an athlete," Neal said. So when they get hurt, they may start losing that identity and feel isolated.

Schwenk said underlying mental illnesses such as depression also occur among athletes. Symptoms don't have to stem from athletic-related stress, he pointed out.

He said one strategy for reaching out to athletes is to frame mental healthcare as a way to improve their performance in their sport.

"An athlete may not be too enthused," Schwenk said, "until you say, ‘This is the way you can be better.'"

SOURCE: bit.ly/14HXQbE Journal of Athletic Training, online September 25, 2013.

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