Nutri-Med Logic Corp : Benefits of a diet loaded in Omega-3 for those going through Depression. Most anti-depression medicines “Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Suppressants” attempt to increase the Serotonin levels, in the brain. Serotonin is the mood hormone and is made from a nutrient called tryptophan, which the body cannot turn out. Tryptophan is supplied to the body thru diet. Tryptophan desires to travel to the brain, so that it could be converted to the mood hormone Serotonin. Nevertheless tryptophan has 2 shortfalls : 1- It involves the use of the same transport molecule that 5 other nutriments make use of and tryptophan has the lowest priority in the rank.

2- Stress and inflammation degrade (destroy) tryptophan, all together. As to the first difficulty, foods that have tryptophan and sugar (like chocolate) help to eliminate the other five nutrient elements, since the intake of sugar causes production of insulin and insulin suppresses the competition of tryptophan (the other 5 nutriments), so tryptophan would get on the transport molecule and reach it final destination (That is the reason why chocolate is thought to be an aphrodisiac. it's of no significance how much tryptophan enters to the body, not too much of it'll get to its last destination, which is the answer to why depressed individuals don't make a response to tryptophan rich foods. Stress, be it mental or physiological (age-implicated) produces a chemical hormone called cortisol. Clinical research has demonstrated, returning to 1966, that cortisol increases the activity of an enzyme called “tryptophan pyrrolase”, which degrades tryptophan.

Inflammation also influences the tryptophan levels in the body. Pro-inflammatory agents increase the activity of the enzyme called IDO, which degrades tryptophan. Omega-3 has two parts : DHA and EPA. DHA of Omega-3 moderates CRF (parent to cortisol, the stress hormone) and EPA moderates soreness.