Try ‘fish therapy’ to fight depression — fisheries dept tweet endorses 2015 Chinese study

Union Minister Giriraj Singh retweets post. The report on Chinese study on fish 'therapy' was originally published in The Times of India on 12 September 2015.

Union Minister of Animal Husbandry Giriraj Singh | ANI

New Delhi: The Department of Fisheries, under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Tuesday tweeted an image of a 2015 media report on ‘fish therapy’ that could help people “curb depression risk”.

The report, originally published by The Times of India on 12 September 2015, cited a study that analysed 26 global studies involving more than 1,50,000 people and found “a 17% reduction in the risk of depression among those eating fish”.

While it was not named, the TOI report was referring to a Chinese study titled ‘Fish consumption and risk of depression: a meta-analysis’ by researchers Fang Li, Xiaoqin Liu and Dongfeng Zhang from the Medical College of Qingdao University, China.

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Giriraj Singh retweeted the post while the Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, AIIMS New Delhi and several others were tagged in the post.

Going through #Depression?
Try #Fish Therapy!#TuesdayThoughts #AquaCulture #Benefits #AtmaNirbharBharat @PIB_India @girirajsinghbjp pic.twitter.com/qJo3293spz

— Department of Fisheries, Min of FAH&D (@FisheriesGoI) September 15, 2020

Men indicated lower risk of depression with fish-rich diet — study

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, had found that men who consumed a fish-rich diet were at a 20 per cent lower risk of depression, while the in women risk was lowered by 16 per cent.

However, a major caveat was that the study did not indicate how much fish the participants had consumed, and it also did not differentiate between types of fish or preparation methods.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, data collated by the International Labour Organization found that half of the world’s youth suffered from “anxiety or depression-causing circumstances”, and over a third are uncertain about career prospects due to the pandemic.

In July this year, 43 per cent of Indians were found to be suffering from depression, according to a study conducted by tech health platform GOQii.

It also found that 26 per cent were suffering from mild depression, 11 per cent felt moderately depressed, and 6 per cent had severe symptoms of depression.