A new study points suggests fish oil may be a possible deterrent to schizophrenia.

Though the cause of schizophrenia remains unknown, one hypothesis is that people with the disease don’t process fatty acids correctly, leading to damaged brain cells. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could help brain cells to repair and stabilize.

According to a preliminary study conducted in Austria, fish oil pills may be able to save some young people with signs of mental illness from descending into schizophrenia. The study, which included 81 patients, comes from leaders in the field of youth mental health and adds to evidence suggesting severe mental illness might be prevented with the right intervention.

“If it works, it will be an absolutely tremendous development,” said Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, the chair of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who wasn’t involved in the new study. But more research is needed to see if the results are accurate.

The researchers are beginning a larger international study in eight cities with the hope of replicating their findings, which appear in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry.