Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Sep 01, 2026 1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes ago
A new UK study has found a possible link between higher dietary intake of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and lower anxiety symptoms among university students, although the researchers stress that the evidence remains preliminary and statistically inconclusive.
Researchers Mine Mumcu and John K. Lodge are from the School of Human Sciences at London Metropolitan University in London, UK, while Hasan Kaan Kavsara is from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Omega-3 fatty acids have numerous health benefits as past peer-reviewed studies have shown and also coverages in various Health and
Wellness News sites. This study however is among the few that extends its merits to even that of mental health benefits.
Researchers Examine Diet and Mental Health
The exploratory cross-sectional study recruited 96 UK university students, but only 50 were included in the final analysis. Exclusions included omega-3 supplement use, diagnosed mental health conditions, selected gastrointestinal conditions, and incomplete dietary data.
Participants completed an adapted omega-3 food-frequency questionnaire, a 24-hour dietary recall, and two established mental health screening tools: the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, or GAD-7, and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire, or PHQ-9.
Average estimated EPA plus DHA intake was 472.92 milligrams per day, while average alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, intake was 0.96 grams daily. Mean GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores were 6.66 and 7.02, respectively. Eighty percent of participants fell within the minimal or mild symptom categories on each measure.
Omega-3 Signal Weakens After Full Adjustment
The key finding was an inverse relationship between estimated EPA plus DHA intake and anxiety scores. In the fully adjusted model, every additional 100 milligrams per day of EPA plus DHA was associated with a 0.325-point lower GAD-7 score.
However, the result did not reach statistical significance, with a 95% confidence interval from -0.725 to 0.074 and a p-value of 0.108. The fully adjusted model accounted for 19.7% of the observed variation in anxiety scores.
Importantly, the association had been statistically significant in less-adjusted models. It weakened after alcohol use was included alongside age, sex, and energy intake. A sensitivity analysis using log-transformed omega-3 intake actually reversed the direction of the coefficient while remaining non-significant, undermining evidence for a consistent dose-response relationship.
This Medical News report also notes that exploratory analyses found no significant relationship between EPA plus DHA or ALA intake and depressive symptoms. Likewise, students meeting omega-3 reference intake levels did not show statistically significant differences in anxiety or depression scores compared with those below the thresholds.
Findings Need Larger Studies
The researchers caution that the study cannot establish cause and effect. Its small convenience sample, cross-sectional design, self-reported dietary intake, lack of blood omega-3 biomarkers, and exclusion of nearly half the recruited participants limit the strength and generalizability of the findings.
The results nevertheless provide a useful signal for future research. Larger longitudinal and intervention studies using repeated dietary meas
urements, UK-specific food-composition data, and biological markers of omega-3 status are needed to determine whether EPA and DHA intake has an independent relationship with anxiety among university students.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Nutrients.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/17/2858
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