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Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

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Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#81

Post by dgacmu »

seper8 wrote: post #48
simonh wrote: post #8

So basically once your body has all the nutrients it needs to grow or make the things it needs to make, it makes them. Even more extra stuff it doesn’t need, it doesn’t use. Makes sense. This also appears to apply to the immune system. There’s zero evidence that supplements that are supposed to “boost your immune system” do any such thing. Yes your immune system functions best if you have good nutrition, but that’s i…

There is a shit ton of evidence supporting vitamin d3 to fight covid...

There's not, though. There's a ton of evidence that vitamin d _correlates_ with COVID outcomes, but this is vitamin d's superpower: it correlates with good outcomes for just about everything, but nearly every time there's a good high quality study, it turns out to not be causative. A bunch of those vitamin d and COVID studies were fraudulent.

Vitamin d levels are an excellent marker of good health and they can help predict outcomes but supplementing vitamin d doesn't improve those outcomes. Regretfully. (Except rickets, of course.)

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#82

Post by paulluuk »

permo-w wrote: post #79
crazypyro wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people buy it without it being proven and proving anything related to cognitive ability is both difficult and expensive. This makes doing studies on their effectiveness a neutral to losing scenario. Either: The nootropic works. Great, you probably spent a decent amount of money and... The results are still going to be hard to quantify and measure. It may not be good enough results to convince people who alrea…

this is all true for the producers/sellers of the nootropic, but what about anyone else?

Indeed, it seems to me that a paper proving that nootropics are either harmful or helpful would be quite publishable, which is (unfortunately?) what modern science is all about.

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#83

Post by seper8 »

dgacmu wrote: post #81
seper8 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a shit ton of evidence supporting vitamin d3 to fight covid...

There's not, though. There's a ton of evidence that vitamin d _correlates_ with COVID outcomes, but this is vitamin d's superpower: it correlates with good outcomes for just about everything, but nearly every time there's a good high quality study, it turns out to not be causative. A bunch of those vitamin d and COVID studies were fraudulent. Vitamin d levels are an excellent marker of good health and they can help p…

Did you even do a single bit of research before boldly stating there is no research done on the supplementation?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24053-4 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35166850/ https://pmj.bmj.com/content/98/1156/87 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#84

Post by nervousvarun »

mamonster wrote: post #18

I mean, that's kind of the gist of supplements as a whole, you only take them if you cannot replicate it using a normal diet/lifestyle. The biggest example for this IMO is Vitamin D. If you can spend time in the Sun regularly every day, you won't ever need to touch vitamin D. But how realistic is that for most people ? The only supplement I've encountered so far that has a noticeable effect that cannot be reproduced…

Creatine...would say especially if you're male, is such a game-changer. Recently got my dad who is in his 70s to start taking it and it's been enormously positive for him. Really good stuff.

Personally think it's probably equally valuable for women but can't get my wife to take it (worried about the bloating which is a thing).

To your point it would be very difficult to get the equivalent creatine from your diet. Would take a lot of steak.

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#85

Post by ryanklee »

narag wrote: post #52
anthlax wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting - how does one determine if they are “affected by placebo” or not?

If you don't mind, you're not affected. Or in other words: if you're affected, you don't mind. (I'm not even joking. If you're researching a substance to use it for others, you definitely need it to control for placebo. But if you're doing it just for yourself, you only need it to work, no matter why. Another story is if it stops working)

Placebo is a baseline effect. It's a hurdle to clear to show efficacy above the minimum any substance can meet.

I've heard this argument before, i.e., placebo is an effect therefore why not, but I cannot understand why time and money would be committed to an activity or substance that is only as good as any other activity or substance.

Placebo should signal: move along, nothing to see here!

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#86

Post by AppleBananaPie »

humbleferret wrote: post #2

An intriguing read that summarises the findings of multiple sources. Makes one ponder the true effectiveness of other supplements on the market, and whether the $100B+ industry is built on hearsay and deception.

Multiple sources can hardly be considered an effective bar to decide if something as a whole is good or bad for you. The author completely misses major pieces of literature around these and citing something that is critical for you body as 'probably good for you' while not covering a single instance of health problems from deficiencies makes it hard to take this seriously.

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#87

Post by mgraupner »

treeman79 wrote: post #77
mgraupner wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask if you had gut/intestine problems before?

Yes. Had tons of random problems. Ended up being autoimmune Sjogrens and a clotting disorder. Diet changes and supplements are how I got thing under control for most issues. Blood thinners for Clotting since That’s way to dangerous, and no combination of anything else helped. LDN covers symptoms when I’m not strict about diet.

Interesting. I had similar symptoms like migraine/brain fog, stiff neck and muscle tension as soon as October (winter in Central Europe) came. Tested for Vitamin D deficiency and had super low levels. Since taking supplements I feel good in winter for the first time in probably 5 years. I'm also a very outdoorsy person, so getting enough sun is not always a sure way wo have high levels of Vitamin D.

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#88

Post by seper8 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #53
weavie wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the argument would be that you don't know for sure whether your diet does provide all the nutrients your body needs, so supplements could be used to fill in any gaps. The assumption being that your body will just dispose of any excess safely.

That's the sales pitch for multivitamins and the like; they talk you into a problem but they provide the solution. Certain vitamins your body will dispose of safely (like vitamin C), but there's others that just build up until they kill you; there's the case of Xavier Mertz [0] who was theorized to have died from an excess of vitamin A after eating his sled dogs' livers. But the basic rule is: just eat normally / "a…

Even that balanced diet will consist of less and less minerals and vitamins as time goes on and growers optimize for vegetable, fruit VOLUME instead of vitamin/mineral contents.

>>>

The level of decline varied depending on the specific nutrients and the type of fruit or vegetable, but it generally ranged from 6 percent for protein to 38 percent for riboflavin. In particular, calcium dropped most dramatically in broccoli, kale, and mustard greens, while the iron content took a substantial hit in chard, cucumbers, and turnip greens. Asparagus, collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens lost considerable amounts of vitamin C.

Further studies since then have backed up the case that nutrient levels are dissipating. Research in the January 2022 issue of the journal Foods found that while most vegetables grown in Australia had relatively similar iron content between 1980 and 2010, there were noteworthy drops in certain veggies. Declines in iron content, ranging from 30 to 50 percent, occurred for sweet corn, red-skinned potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, green peas, and chickpeas. By contrast, Hass avocados, mushrooms, and silverbeet (another name for chard) actually gained in iron.

Grains have also experienced declines, experts say. A study in a 2020 issue of Scientific Reports found that protein content in wheat decreased by 23 percent from 1955 to 2016, and there were notable reductions in manganese, iron, zinc, and magnesium, as well.

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conserv...

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#89

Post by omginternets »

permo-w wrote: post #43
mistercow wrote: post #16

I don’t understand the author’s reading of the literature they cite. They refer to “isolated studies” and then link to a systematic review of 25 studies. They also linked to the same review twice for both memory and attention, which I assume is a mistake, because the review only supports the claim about memory. But none of these studies are about “brain-boosting”. They’re about preventing or reversing cognitive decli…

why is it that no one wants to study the effects of nootropics?

Because most of the time, interest in a topic is a function of plausibility. Most nootropics have little or nothing to indicate they work — not even a hint of something plausible.

Of course, it’s possible the scientific community is overlooking something promising. This has happened before. But that’s a dangerous bet for a career scientist to take.

Practically, if you want nootropics that work, and if you want to consume something whose long term side-effects are actually known, get an adderall prescription. (Or, stop trying to neurotically optimize every detail of your life and go outside.)

Re: Omega-3s: Are “Brain-Boosting” Effects Scientifically Backed?

#90

Post by iillexial »

AppleBananaPie wrote: post #86
humbleferret wrote: post #2

An intriguing read that summarises the findings of multiple sources. Makes one ponder the true effectiveness of other supplements on the market, and whether the $100B+ industry is built on hearsay and deception.

Multiple sources can hardly be considered an effective bar to decide if something as a whole is good or bad for you. The author completely misses major pieces of literature around these and citing something that is critical for you body as 'probably good for you' while not covering a single instance of health problems from deficiencies makes it hard to take this seriously.

>The author completely misses major pieces of literature

Can you provide links?

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