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Cultural symbolism of fish and the psychotropic properties of omega-3 fatty acids.

Reis LC, Hibbeln JR

Section on Nutritional Neuroscience, Laboratory of Membrane Biophysics and Biochemistry, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH, Rockville, MD, USA.

Fish is a food with unique psychotropic properties. Consumption of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, rich in seafood, reduces depression, aggression and anger while improving mental well-being. We posit that symbols of fish have become linked to the emotional states induced by long-chain fatty acid by associative pairings, both conscious and unconscious. The limbic and hippocampal activity necessary for memory formation containing emotional content and the labeling of social context by cortical processes appears to be optimized by diets rich in long-chain omega-3 fatty acid. In this critical literature survey, we find that fish have been culturally labeled as symbols of emotional well-being and social healing in religious and medical practices among independent cultures, for at least six millennia. This understanding of the perception of fish as a symbolically healing or purifying food can assist current messages improving public health.

Published 2 October 2006 in Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids, 75(4): 227-36.
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