Live data from Hacker News

Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

npr.org

191–200 of 248 posts

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#191

I can't say I noticed a change in mood when taking D3. However fish oil undeniably reduces dryness in the EYES, with and without contact lenses. They do sell in pharmacy supplements for eye health, I think targeted at older people, and the dosage of EPA /DHA is very low. I didn't try those so I can't say how much is needed. I took eg. Life Extension 700/500 epa/dha and for me the effect was 100% reproducible. On a da…

Hello,

I didn't noticed a lot of changes with 2000 IU but at 5000 IU the effect on mood is dramatic and quite noticeable. Being liposoluble the effect has quite a latency over several days.

It's basically the "summer vacation" feeling.

(Be carefult to take pure D3 not something mixed with calcium though: effective dosage of vit D. would bring into calcium overdosage.)

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#192
post #163
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a cost not just in time, but also in willpower. There is some disagreement as to whether willpower is a finite resource or not, but if there is even a partial limitation, then coming up with that willpower needs to be taken into consideration. Also, saying "you make time" is true in such a way that is of little value, as there are a multitude of things you can make time for, such as connecting with your frien…

Exercise is very important. I wouldn't recommend looking at it as something that is optional. It's funny you mention willpower, as there is a book called "The Willpower Instinct" and the author claims that willpower is indeed finite and exercise is one of the best things that can lead to a greater amount of willpower over time. So exercise may be a short term willpower cost but if this author is correct, exercise wou…

Exactly. We all have the same 24 hours, how we we choose to prioritize is up to us. But I’m not interested in excuses of “I don’t have the time.” You MAKE the time when it comes to your health.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a big believer in fish oil. In my late 30s I experienced a consistent feeling of unwell ness and what I describe as “brain fog” so badly and consistently I went to the dr about it. Turned I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Dr wanted me to modify my diet and if it didn’t improve he wanted to put me on statins(!) Fish has never been part of my diet. Started using fish oil, eating Cheerios, vitamins and…

As for the statins... Doc said we had to treat my high cholesterol and triglycerides. I was very reluctant to take statins so she said "OK try red yeast rice for 3 months but if it doesn't improve you're gonna have to take statins". OK. My cholesterol 320->220. My triglycerides 300+ -> 115. It turns out that lovastatin was identified as one of the key molecules in the ancient Chinese remedy. So that's my one data poi…

It's not at all surprising that red yeast rice would be as effective as a prescription drug in lowering triglycerides. In fact, "Some red yeast rice products contain large amounts of monacolin K, which is chemically identical to the active ingredient in the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin." (from https://nccih.nih.gov/health/redyeastrice)

It seems statins have serious side effects such as nerve damage, so perhaps you should go with the exact dosage prescribed by a doctor instead of taking an unknown quantity of the same drug from natural sources.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#195
post #79

Study linked was not the biggest cardiovascular health news of today-- This was: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1812792 A single purified component of fish oil - EPA, did lead to a 25% relative risk reduction on top of statin treatment. This is a huge result with off the charts p values.

Importantly the results were only positive for those: > Among patients with elevated triglyceride levels Much like low dose aspirin its possible this is a bad idea for the average person unless you are already showing signs of heart disease.

How is low dose aspirin bad for the average person? It is an anti-inflammatory, and inflammation is a leading theory of potential disease causation for a number of diseases. Daily low dose aspirin is associated with a significantly lower all-cause mortality in average people.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#196

Study linked was not the biggest cardiovascular health news of today-- This was: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1812792 A single purified component of fish oil - EPA, did lead to a 25% relative risk reduction on top of statin treatment. This is a huge result with off the charts p values.

But since statins increase deaths from cardiovascular disease, it is very possible that EPA is only protective against the damage of statins, rather than being beneficial in general.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#197
post #191

I can't say I noticed a change in mood when taking D3. However fish oil undeniably reduces dryness in the EYES, with and without contact lenses. They do sell in pharmacy supplements for eye health, I think targeted at older people, and the dosage of EPA /DHA is very low. I didn't try those so I can't say how much is needed. I took eg. Life Extension 700/500 epa/dha and for me the effect was 100% reproducible. On a da…

Hello, I didn't noticed a lot of changes with 2000 IU but at 5000 IU the effect on mood is dramatic and quite noticeable. Being liposoluble the effect has quite a latency over several days. It's basically the "summer vacation" feeling. (Be carefult to take pure D3 not something mixed with calcium though: effective dosage of vit D. would bring into calcium overdosage.)

Thank you. Could you mention a brand that I could look into and compare to what I was taking? And what are they sourced from (those that you took?).

It's winter soon so I guess I could give it another go.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#198
post #108

"Fine and Manson stressed that vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are important nutrients, but the best way to get them is as part of a well-balanced diet. That includes eating fatty fish like sardines, tuna and salmon, and vitamin-D fortified cereals, milk, and orange juice." Ah, okay. So instead of taking supplemental Vitamin D, you should get it from natural sources, such as..... foods that ha…

> "Fine and Manson stressed that vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are important nutrients, but the best way to get them is as part of a well-balanced diet. That includes eating fatty fish like sardines, tuna and salmon, and vitamin-D fortified cereals, milk, and orange juice."

That doesn't make any sense in the case of Vitamin D. The amount of fish necessary to get a reasonably high amount of Vitamin D from a diet is so high, you may well get heavy metal poisoning. Fish is pretty much the only viable dietary source of Vitamin D.

There is only two way to get "enough" Vitamin D: Sunlight and supplements. Obtaining enough sunlight in the winter with an office job isn't possible in the northern hemisphere.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#199
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> HN's absurd title policy is using a clickbait (and misleading) title chosen by NPR and amplifying it. In general I think the HN title policy works great, and I don’t think it’s fair to call it “absurd”. I think HN at its core always was a sort of social experiment revolving around online discussions. The title policy, along with the guidelines, is what makes HN be HN.

The absurd part isn't the convention of being true to the source's headline — which is good, generally — but the dogged persistence in keeping bad and misleading headlines, with extremely rare exception.

Exactly. Not sure this is an example of that, but what you describe is the major problem with the HN title policy in my opinion.

Re: Long-Awaited Study Results on Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements

#200
post #129

Quite a large population in the the world lives at place where fishes aren't available. So is it possible some people don't really need fish oil for well-being? Evolution might have rendered eating fish useless for these people.

Yes, absolutely. Fish oil is not needed at all. The EPA and DHA in fish was initially produced by algae anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid The 2 essential fatty acids are: - alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, an omega-3 fatty acid). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-Linolenic_acid - linoleic acid (LA, an omega-6 fatty acid). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid Linseed oil (flaxseed oil) is a…

>Fish oil is not needed at all. The EPA and DHA in fish was initially produced by algae anyway

People who lived in areas without fish also lived in areas without algae.

>The 2 essential fatty acids are

It is worth noting that there is basically no evidence that those 2 fatty acids are actually essential. A single study done in the 1930s is the basis for that belief. A study in which rats fed no fat got symptoms we now would consider indicative of vitamin B6 deficiency. This study was done prior to the discovery of vitamin B6. Although adding "essential" omega 6 fatty acids alleviated the rat's symptoms, later studies were able to alleviate the symptoms using vitamin B6 while the rats continued to receive absolutely no fats.

>Linseed oil (flaxseed oil) is a good provider of essential fatty acids

And linseed oil consumption is correlated with an increase in all cause mortality.

>Experts recommend a vegan diet against heart disease and cancer.

Experts recommend all sorts of things that contradict evidence. Like taking statins even though they increase mortality. Or switching from perfectly safe saturated fats to "heart healthy" trans fats even though it increases mortality. Or once trans fats were too obviously bad they simply changed their recommendation to "polyunsaturated fats" which are also correlated with increased mortality.

Post reply on HN