Healio (4/20, Gramigna) reports, “Omega-3 supplementation may slow accelerated aging by altering the body’s response during and after a stressful event,” researchers concluded after evaluating “the effects of omega-3 supplementation on biomarkers related to cellular aging following a laboratory speech stressor among 138 middle-aged participants who were sedentary and overweight.” The findings were published online April 20 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Omega-3 supplementation may slow stress-related accelerated aging ”
Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 20, 2021

HealthDay (4/20, Thompson) reports research indicates that “high-profile police killings of Black people may take a big mental health toll on psyches across the” US. After gauging “Americans’ mental health ratings with data from a federal health survey that interviews more than 400,000 U.S. adults each year,” investigators “found that, on average, Black Americans reported an increase in ‘poor mental health days’ during weeks where more than one deadly racial incident was in the news.” The study revealed “no change in white Americans’ mental health ratings during those weeks,” however. The findings were published online April 19 ahead of print in PNAS.

Related Links:

— “High-Profile Police Brutality Cases Harm Black Americans’ Mental Health: Study “Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 20, 2021

Healio (4/19) reports, “Long-acting injectable [LAI] antipsychotics provided significant benefit in prevention of hospitalization or relapse for schizophrenia compared with oral antipsychotics,” researchers concluded after analyzing data from “137 studies, of which 32 were randomized controlled trials, 65 were cohort studies and 40 were pre-post studies.” The findings of the systematic review and comparable meta-analysis were published online April 13 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “LAIs more beneficial for certain schizophrenia outcomes than oral antipsychotics “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 19, 2021

HealthDay (4/19, Collins) reports researchers at McMaster University found that stress and anxiety can stop people from exercising, so “some people may need mental health support to exercise during the pandemic.” The researchers conducted a survey and concluded that stress and anxiety related to the pandemic was tied to a decrease in how much people exercise. The findings were published in PLOS ONE.

Related Links:

— “Pandemic Stress Keeps Many From Exercising ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 19, 2021

Medscape (4/19, Koenig, Subscription Publication) reports researchers used functional MRIs to map brain changes in children and found “spanking may cause changes in the same areas of a child’s brain affected by more severe physical and sexual abuse.” The findings were published in Child Development.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)