Long-Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Brain Function, Structure in Older Adults (2014)

Could you post sources? I feel this is especially wanted for free dietary advice on the internet. Not saying that you're wrong, I simply don't know, but just a quick search on 'bioavailability of n-3 fatty acids' show a lot of research which goes various ways and not necessarily confirming what you say here.

But those registered krill oils are way more expensive. Alleged absorption improvement is 2.5x (in only 1 study AFAIK). Just take more cheaper algae or fish oil. This all smells of krill oil manufacturer marketing. And who knows who funded that study.

To improve your suggestion, it's very easy to also get triglyceride non-fish omega-3 (DHA+EPA), so now there shouldn't be less worry about other stuff getting into it.

Isn't it enough to just have 2 servings of fatty fish a week? Why use pills?

what brand?

According to Ray Peat, PUFAs in any amount are toxic to humans. It's so obvious that after we started to consume PUFAs, the mitochondrial dysfunction, and all associated with it chronic diseases and obesity started as well! I've only heard Ray Peat talk about cardiolipin and how detrimental the desaturation of fatty acids is for our health!

You made me curious (and don't know anything about this subject) however the first result in ddg contradicts what you say:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-omega-6

Omega 6 is also an essential oil. You should not reduce it to zero.

It just happens to be everywhere you end up consuming a lot more than necessary.

I don’t think you are doing this correctly

Most of omega 3 benefits come from EPA and DHA. Not ALA. chia seeds have mainly ALA. Your body will only convert some of ALA into EPA, but not much. If you are trying to avoid fish oil, you could try krill oil

Eat sardines

Basic Omega 6 and Omega 3 are both EFA (essential fatty acids) and you want to eat both. Definitely though Omega 6 is much easier to get so it is good to prioritise Omega 3. Not sure how much Omega 3 that small amount of Chia seeds has but I would guess you need a lot more.

Omega 3 also goes rancid fairly quickly so you need the source to be fairly fresh (and especially not processed)

Your body can make medium chain and long chain fatty acids from the short chain ones above but its also good to consume those as well since it (your body) can only do so in limited amounts. This is why people say seafood consumption is a good idea.

There are also other omega fatty acids which also can be good for you - Omega 9, Omega 7 etc etc. Many nuts and seeds can be good sources of these.

For anybody without any specific issues like yours, surely this effect would be hardly observable? They administered 2 g/kg every day for four weeks, which is absolutely massive, whereas most people eating a lot of fish might be eating at most 0.05 g/kg of EPA/DHA, and that would probably only be a couple of days days a week… I take “high strength” fish oil supplements (for an autoimmune condition), and that only has 900 mg of triglycerides per capsule (1.5g of fish oil), which for me is 0.01 g/kg. I usually take two, except on days I eat salmon, when I only have one.

See Labdoor.com and Consumerlab.com to verify supplement quality.

There are some good meta studies on Omega-3s. Dr Bradley Stanfield[1] walks through Mayo Clinic meta analysis[2]. Rhonda Patrick[3] is the best resource for an interpretation of the data.

TLDR; consume enough omega-3s (DHA/EPA) to get omega-3 index above 8.0. Discrepancies in research outcomes are attributed to study design, methodology of measuring intake, methodology of measuring blood.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58RkZy6FEco&ab_channel=DrBra... [2] https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(20)... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcvhERcZpWw&t=2108s

It is very good to be skeptical about the composition of the food you buy, and to check as much as possible which it is.

However, when you buy some kind of fish oil for which the vendor provides precise values for its content in DHA, EPA and vitamin D, and you buy this in a country where such false claims are punished, you can be reasonably certain about the quality of the oil.

I have not seen a vendor publishing the admissible content of mercury, but in most countries there are legal limits for it.

I have seen a few studies where random samples taken from various fish oil commercial products were analyzed for mercury, and in most cases the content was significantly lower than encountered in most fish meat that is sold. Also one would eat much less fish oil per day, e.g. at most a spoon, than one would eat fish meat, when choosing a fish dish.

I agree that unfortunately, due to the human stupidity in managing waste, now eating any fish-derived products implies some risks.

However, in the case of fish oil obtained from some reputable source, I believe that the benefits outweigh the risks. The only good alternative to fish oil is the oil obtained from cultures of some unicellular living beings, but that is about 8 times more expensive than fish oil, so few people can afford it in the quantities that are needed for the recommended daily intake.

Regarding the research downplaying the "omega3 supposed benefits", I have read many such studies and the conclusions were mostly opposite. While in many cases there could not be observed any effects from taking various vitamin supplements, there were nonetheless in most cases measurable good effects from the use of omega3 supplements.

The reason for this is easy to understand. Any kind of vitamin, mineral or omega3 supplements can have effects only when the food eaten is deficient in those substances, otherwise there is no effect.

Someone who eats large quantities of food obtained from animals will not need any kind of omega3 supplements. On the other hand someone who is either vegan or eats mostly vegetable food, will need omega3 supplements, like also vitamin D and vitamin B12 supplements.

I am not vegan, but I eat mostly vegetable food, so I add some cod liver oil to the olive oil that I put in my food, to ensure an adequate daily intake of DHA, EPA and vitamin D.

It's important to choose oil with a low totox value, which indicates low oxidation (= rancidity) status.

I just get Costco (Kirkland) frozen salmon.

Tastes good, cooks well, not outrageously expensive.

I generally keep red meats to a minimum, as well as cheeses, and whatnot (to keep a handle on cholesterol).

Otherwise, I don't really get too bent out of shape about trying to be healthy. I walk three miles a day, and don't do much between-meal snacking.

HN has copy comment bots so openly? Strange

ConsumerLab looks intriguing but rather spendy w/o giving a sense of range/depth/quality of reviews.

I wouldn't have commented if they didn't name it "Ultra Omega 3-D" which is about as bad as the quantum nano shampoo with techron they try to sell me.

One can of sardines has >2x the omega 3s and is less likely to be counterfeit or adulterated as many suppliments have been found to be.

The vitamin D is another matter though, harder to get enough of in winter, but also easier to overdose on with suppliments.

I don't think it should matter much, if there is solid data on omega-3 (DHA) blood levels being correlated with lowered all-cause mortality: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22370-2

This is exactly why I don’t take supplements. I just eat.

Randomly inflating certain micronutrients without actually monitoring their levels is probably way more dangerous than just eating “healthy”.

IIRC there have been more recent studies that have narrowed it down to the EPA component being implicated in afib.

The article references a meta-analysis, which is hardly a smoking gun.

The analysis suggests variation between afib occurrence/risk and the brand or omega-3 supplement or dose.

Additional points from the article:

* despite finding a link between afib and omega-3 supplementation, the meta-analysis didn’t find increased heart or stroke risk

* although the analysis linked a prescription-strength omega-3 supplement with higher afib risk, the analysis indicated that omega-3 appeared to reduce heart attack and stroke risk

Existing evidence and analysis find that omega-3 can impact various medical conditions and health factors.

I think that, as with any medication, one should consult their doctor and weigh the cost-benefit / risk-reward of taking omega-3 supplements/prescriptions.

Algae oil. That's what I take as a vegan, and I also eat ground flax and chia in smoothies regularly

Eat more ruminant red meat.

Assuming you dont want to take fish supplements. Carnitine (L or N Acetyl) because Carnitine although made in the body helps the body use fatty acids as energy in the mitochondria. Limited studies because obviously it cant be patented and a decent study will cost in excess of £/$/€1million, but existing studies suggest the above, it only seems to have an effect on those who are obese which would seem logical, and it also works on aging humans perhaps because the amounts produced by the body decline with age. It also seems to help with depression so the comfort eating may decline. Its also linked to glutamate, glycine and something else in the brain but studies exist in the usual places and some medical experts also discuss it on Youtube if you cant interpret the studies found in places in like pubmed or google scholar.

The only suggested risk with Carnitine is an increase in something called TMAO (Tri MethylAmine Oxidase) its what makes fish and vagina's (trimethylaminuria) smell this can be elevated with Choline or Carnitine if certain bacteria exist and although TMAO is thought to help contribute to atherosclerosis, Fish which is touted as healthy like here is also high in TMAO, so there are questions over whether TMAO is actually good or bad.

Some seeds also have omega 3's and 6's, they are precursors for CBD, but you'll find the Omega's in most diets so if you dont want it to be used for CBD production, maybe consume some CBD.

I'm no nutritionist but I read that one source might be: high-oleic sunflower canola oils.

> Sunflower oil is naturally high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are great for frying and cooking with but can expire quickly. To remedy this, harvesters have bred a healthier form of this oil that is lower in polyunsaturated fats and higher in oleic acid.

https://soylent.com/blogs/news/healthy-plant-fats-your-body-...

They are sinister after all.

Jokes aside, exclusions of certain groups, both demographic and people with medical conditions, in trials is a big issue that's still not fully being addressed. Medical trials often end up with candidates with better health than the average person and lean towards white males while psychology experiments are conducted on college students.

No plants contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Besides flaxseeds, walnuts have also a large content of short-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Walnuts were my preferred source of omega-3 fatty acids when I was young.

The problem is that the short-chain fatty acids must be elongated in the liver to become useful.

For many people, the elongation capacity per day of the liver is not enough to provide a sufficient quantity of long-chain fatty acids.

Because the fatty-acid elongation capacity of the liver decreases with age, for older people it is much more important to eat food with long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, e.g. fish oil or oily fish, than it is for young people, for whom flaxseeds or walnuts may be enough.

That is why in the parent article the conclusion was that the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid supplements have been more effective for older people.

There are unicellular micro-organisms which produce long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. They can be cultivated and the oil extracted from them is available commercially, but at prices 8 times higher than the price of fish oil (for the same quantity of DHA or EPA).

Moreover, different cultures must be used for DHA and for EPA, so for a complete supplement 2 oils would have to be mixed. Because a single producer usually has only the technology for a single type of culture, in most cases one would have to buy both a DHA oil and an EPA oil and consume both supplements.

In contrast, fish oil from oily fish has both DHA and EPA, while cod liver oil has DHA, EPA and also vitamin D.

Camelina sativa — the oil of which I've sometimes seen in groceries — is similar to flax in omega 3 content. Varieties with high DHA content have been genetically engineered, although I haven't seen that sold retail.

You can get them from the same place the fish get them from, algae! Like many micronutrients, fish don't actually produce them, they just accumulate them from non-animal sources. Unfortunately they also accumulate heavy metals, so they're not the cleanest source. Much better and more sustainable to go straight to the source.

Just one example: https://www.nordic.com/products/algae-omega/?variant=3947218...

> "α-Linolenic acid (ALA), (from Greek linon, meaning flax), is an n−3, or omega-3, essential fatty acid. ALA is found in many seeds and oils, including flaxseed, walnuts, chia, hemp, and many common vegetable oils." (wiki1)

> "Mammals are unable to synthesize the essential omega−3 fatty acid ALA and can only obtain it through diet. However, they can use ALA, when available, to form EPA and DHA, by creating additional double bonds along its carbon chain (desaturation) and extending it (elongation)." (wiki2)

There's a claim that the latter biochemical process (ALA -> EPA, DHA) is negatively impacted as humans age. Is this really true? Who knows, this is the supplement industry we're talking about here. Known for peddling things like shark cartilage as a cure for cancer, etc. (I'm biased: I was a QA lab analyst for a supplement outfit for a while and ended up getting fired over refusing to doctor lead content tests so that bulk imported chinese herbs would pass tests. The company didn't want to hold up production of the hottest latest fad, at the time).

You mean "brisling sardines", i.e. "sprats", right? Because warm-water fish don't have much omega-3s! What's wrong if the sardines are in olive oil?

Isn't krill oil the safest choice?

To the people reading this..it does not have that effect at all. Please do not take omega-3 because you think its a nootropic

I’ve read this but always had a hard time believing it. Why would the omega 6/3 ratio matter? Seems like a falsehood peddled by people trying to convince you to buy more expensive unsustainable hunted fish.