

Fish oils don't slow mental decline - tokenadult
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929363.800-fish-oils-dont-boost-brain-power.html

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readme
Here's another study that found DHA did slow mental decline

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20434961](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20434961)

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arn
The study you cite is a better study too in that it's randomized controlled
prospective study, whereas the one linked here seems to be an observational
one. Observational ones are the ones where everyone says correlation doesn't
imply causation.

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mistercow
Ugh, I wish New Scientist would just go away. No link to the original study,
gross exaggeration of the study's findings and scope in the headline. And a
mention that one study doesn't overturn the entire existing body of research
would have been nice.

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jasallen
I hate when these researchers don't stick to the rationally implied
conclusions. "We see no correlation" is the rationally implied conclusion of
the research. "Maybe it's affluence" is not science, at that point the
researcher became just-some-guy(gal?) throwin' out his theories.

~~~
Finster
It's common when writing a scientific paper to write opinions like that. "We
showed there is no correlation. Possible explanations for past correlation may
be..." It's not just some guy throwing theories against a wall to see what
sticks. It's someone who has studied this exact topic for many months or
years.

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hackinthebochs
Exactly. Speculation from someone who is entrenched in the study of a subject
is very valuable. Is it not speculation that leads to further investigation
and eventually a scientific study? Educated guesses is just as much a part of
science as doing an actual controlled study.

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Arnor
Yes, but then the news media steps in and claims that the gods of science have
spoken. Then if this article gets refuted a year or two down the road, the
damage is done because the public moved on.

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saraid216
So, fix the media. Don't whine about the scientists.

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com2kid
Fish Oil does however help with anxiety and depression!

A large mega-dose of DHA/EPA (~1600mg of DHA, 1200mg of EPA) is the difference
between my being stuck at home, and my going out to a party and socializing.

Fish Oil is not a panacea, but, there is lots of evidence [1] in its favor.

[1][http://examine.com/supplements/Fish+Oil/](http://examine.com/supplements/Fish+Oil/)

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tocomment
That's a lot, where do you buy it?

Also all I brands I've seen are higher on EPA over DHA. (The one in front of
my is 780mg EPA and only 260 DHA)

Does that still help you or do you need a certain ratio?

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NARKOZ
I buy off from Amazon, the reviews are helpful. "Nordic Naturals" is a good
brand to check out.

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tocomment
Do you think the amounts of EPA vs DHA are important? Do you worry about too
many heavy metals?

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com2kid
You want a good 3:2 ratio or so.

Good brands independently list how much EPA and DHA are in each pill. Bad ones
say "1000mg". That is useless, you can end up with minimal EPA and DHA and a
bunch of filler oils. Meh.

Best I've found is ~600mg EPA and 400mg of DHA per capsule.

Edit: Good brands are purified, heavy metals should not be a concern.

~~~
shire
which one do you buy and how much are they?

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com2kid
!! I remembered

THe highest ratio I have found is

"Life Extension Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA"

It is 700mg of EPA and 500mg of DHA. 3 a day!

~~~
tocomment
Thanks. What do you think of this one? Is Swanson a good brand? You can't beat
the price.

[http://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-efas-super-epa-
fish-o...](http://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-efas-super-epa-fish-
oil-100-sgels)

~~~
com2kid
Well be aware, 300mg of EPA means the value isn't quite as good as it may
first appear. Multiply by 2.3 to get the dosage the same per $!

I have never used Swanson stuff before, typical worry about low cost fish oil
is that it isn't filtered for heavy metals as well, and it may have a smell to
it. Of course YMMV. :) I typically go to a local shop (more expensive of
course!) and try out a brand there first, since I typically can return even
the opened bottle if I feel something is wrong.

~~~
tocomment
What do you mean about multiplying by 2.3?

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com2kid
The bottle I mentioned is 700mg per capsule, the one you linked to is 300mg
per capsule. Price per capsule is therefor not a good measure, you need price
per mg instead. :)

(Also remember to take into consideration number of capsules in the bottle!)

~~~
tocomment
But the serving size on yours is two pills. Maybe you need to double up?

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com2kid
Bleck, you are right, I shouldn't do math at the wrong time of day. :) The
ones I am using right now is something from a company called SOLGAR (never
used them before), 1 capsule is 504mg EPA, 378mg of DHA.

Still a fair bit pricer than the ones you picked out though, even ordering
from Amazon ($20/bottle of 100)

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timje1
I see a similarity between this study and the recent crack baby myth debunking
- it's not the crack, it's the poverty. Only in this case, they're suggesting
that it's not the Omega-3: it's the affluent (and health conscious) vs the
not-so-affluent.

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arn
Measuring blood levels of Omega-3 seems a strange method. Presumably they
correlated high blood levels with high intake?

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hammock
Follow the money. Who funded this study? Also, better summary here
[http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-
supplements/news/20130925/...](http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-
supplements/news/20130925/study-questions-fish-oil-brain-claims)

~~~
GrinningFool
What's interesting to me in that study summary is this:

"...between 65 and 80 years old who had normal thinking and memory at the
start of the study... The women took tests on thinking and memory each year
for an average of six years. Blood levels of omega-3s were taken at the start
of the study.

Overall, the researchers found no changes in mental function based on the
levels of omega-3s in the blood. "

Given that age range, isn't maintaining baseline a net positive effect?

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matznerd
DHA is "almost 50% weight of the neuronal membranes[1]" in the brain. If your
body does not have enough of it from the diet, it has to be synthesized in the
body. It is a lot more efficient to supplement it and a lack of it is known to
create mental decline.

It is well established within the Nootropic community that nearly everyone
should supplement it. I take Jarrow Max DHA 2-3 times per day (500 mg DHA and
72 EPA/per cap)

[1]
[http://medind.nic.in/icb/t05/i3/icbt05i3p239.pdf](http://medind.nic.in/icb/t05/i3/icbt05i3p239.pdf)

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klt0825
I would be interested to see what the blood levels of EPA/DHA were in the
patients studied, the article isn't really helpful in that respect and it may
be important.

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ffrryuu
Yeah and medicine does not help final outcome, which is death.

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AsymetricCom
Great news, Fish oils are very expensive lately.

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ekm2
Isn't this the same thing as "Meat does not make you muscular?"

There has to be a combination of diet and exercise.

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jasallen
There is, however, a significant correlation between meat eating (or more
specifically protein consumption) and muscularity. If you corrected for
exercise in the right way you would still see this correlation (a naive
approach would remove all effects of exercise and you would lose the
correlation).

So if this study is taken at face value (and well, no, don't do that) there is
_no correlation_ even before correcting for other factors.

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ekm2
If you do not work out, the meat merely makes you fat.

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hackinthebochs
That's not exactly true. I saw a study recently that showed high protein diets
increase lean body mass independent of exercise.

