Fish Oil and Dopamine

Neurotransmitters in your brain rule your mental and emotional life. Your body depends on nourishment from the food you eat to build and maintain them. Dopamine is a critical neurotransmitter that regulates your emotions, your movement and your experience of pain and pleasure. In recent years, studies have shown that a diet featuring fish or fish oil positively impacts dopamine levels and may play a critical role in your personality and the overall outcome of your life.

How Dopamine Works

Neurons transmit dopamine to receptor neurons. It is through its interaction with receptors that dopamine is able to produce its effects on the brain. When the receptor returns the dopamine to the neuron that sent it, dopamine may be subject to an enzyme called monoamine oxidase, which breaks dopamine down, or it can be stored in vesicles in the area of the brain called the substantia nigra, where dopamine is clustered. Drugs and diet can directly impact the brain's dopamine reuptake system, causing the brain to have too much or too little dopamine.

Dopamine and Behavior

The medical community has long known that sufferers of Parkinson's disease have virtually no dopamine, while the brains of schizophrenics appear to be loaded with it. Other studies have looked at less extreme, but just as dramatic, effects of dopamine deprivation. A 1998 French study published in "The Journal of Nutrition" found that rats who ate a diet enriched with fish oil had higher dopamine levels and showed greater learning ability. In 2006, "The Guardian" published preliminary results of an ongoing study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It seems to show that habitual violent offenders given a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids were better able to control their anger and violent behavior.

Dopamine and Diet

The processed foods in Western industrial countries are packed with omega-6 fatty acids, which should ideally balance omega-3 fatty acids to keep your brain healthy. However, the corn- and soy-based foods and additives common to processed foods do not balance omega-6 acids with omega-3s, which may explain in part an increase in depression and violent crime in developed countries. The best source of omega-3 is oily fish, particularly cold-water fish such as salmon, cod and herring.

Alternatives to Fish Oil

Flaxseed and walnuts, though not as rich in omega-3s, contain significant levels of docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, a particularly important type of omega-3. If you don't like fish and don't get enough omega-3 in your diet, consider taking fish oil supplements in capsule form at least once a day for improved mental and emotional health.