Depression affects approximately 20 per cent of people at some time in their lives, although up to two-thirds may not get treatment owing to a combination of factors: misdiagnosis, failure or reluctance to seek help as a result of social stigma, or even chronic depression, whereby the sufferer may be so disabled they cannot access help themselves.

Whilst treatment is often in the form of conventional medicines, research by leading scientists advocates using omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to alleviate and even banish symptoms of depression.  

Leading clinicians and researchers such as Dr. Dianne Lefevre at the Mental Health Unit, Basildon Hospital and Professor Basant K. Puri, Head of the Lipid Neuroscience Department at Imperial College, London, use Vegepa for patients with depression, with extremely positive results.

This is excellent news in view of the following statistics:

- Two-thirds of people in the UK suffering from major depression are never correctly diagnosed and therefore never treated for depression.(i)

- Everyone will, at some time in their life, be affected by depression - their own or someone else�s, according to Australian Government statistics. (Depression statistics in Australia are comparable to those of the US and UK.)(ii)

- The rate of increase of depression among children is a staggering 23 per cent per annum. (iii)

- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that by 2020 major depression will rank second on the list of illnesses to pose the greatest global health burden, in terms of early death, lost man-hours and use of medical resources. (Heart Disease is top of the list.) (iv)

- Fifteen per cent of the population of most developed countries suffer severe depression. (v)

(i) The Natural Way to Beat Depression, Professor Basant K. Puri & Hilary Boyd, 2004 (Hodder Mobius, London).

(ii) National Health Priority Areas Mental Health: A Report Focusing on Depression, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1998.

(iii) Harvard University study reported in Harvard Mental Health Newsletter, February 2002.

(iv) World Health Organization (WHO) report on mental illness, 4th October 2001.

(v) World Health Organization (WHO) report quoted on BBC Online, 9th January 2001.