Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

abouttolearn.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 168 posts

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

#111

Post by Mtinie »

permo-w wrote: post #76
Mtinie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have two hypotheses that came to mind when I read your question: 1. It’s a hard problem to quantify effects on cognitive functioning provided by nootropic supplements. We still have so much to learn about brain function; 2. Nootropics offer patent holders opportunities to make obscene amounts of money. As long as those supplements are (generally) safe to consume. That level of review requires R&D spending, but too…

1. is certainly true. to my mind, an accurate quantitative measure of brain function doesn't exist: you run into the fairly intractable philosophical problem of "what is brain function?" while that is true, not being 100% philosophically sound has never stopped psychology studies before - far from it 2. is also perfectly true, with the caveat that it only applies to beneficiaries of the patents. so your hypotheses ac…

> […]or is there another hypothesis to be found?

There most certainly are more hypotheses to discuss. I picked the two which came immediately to mind and passed my personal “plausible enough” check.

Thank you for giving me more to consider!

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

#112

Post by cullenking »

newsclues wrote: post #20
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…

I think the "boost your immune system" things are just common deficiencies in modern people. If most people don't get enough vitamin C or D in regular life, then the advice to boost their immune system with a sufficient does to be non-deficient would function to boost their immune system to a normally healthy level.

I recently got a broad panel of tests done, and found out I was Vitamin D deficient. This was a big surprise to me because I live in the high desert of central oregon, which gets lots of sun even in the winter. I am very active and outside everyday. It is cold however, so my arms are always covered. We are 45 degrees north of the equator.

I was at 20 ng/mL which is considered deficient. 3 weeks of 5,000 IU a day supplementation (162lbs, fit, active male) brought me up to 31 ng/mL, which is just barely up from deficient. I upped to 10,000 IU a day for 1 week, dropped back to 5,000 IU a day, and will test again in two weeks. Everyone is different, but hopefully this gives some helpful numbers for anyone considering supplementing, and whether or not the paltry 1,000 IU commonly advised is adequate for people living at a higher latitude in the winter.

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

#113

Post by bearcream67 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #99

One of the interesting things you pick up on from reading supplement blogs and fitness forums is that a lot of people have negative reactions to Omega 3 supplements. If you search for “omega-3 depression” you find a lot of stories from people whose depression started or worsened with omega-3 supplements, and resolved later. This is a particularly interesting find given that the placebo effect would be expected to go…

I'm curious as to what papers mention this! Quickly pulling up one related appears to clearly support EPA omega 3 supplementation being a beneficial tool to help with depression.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-019-0515-5

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

#114

Post by mistercow »

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?

I think it boils down to a combination of:

1) It's hard to sell the output of this research. Your health insurance isn't going to pay $100 a day to make a healthy person smarter.

2) The output of your research is going to be low priority for regulatory approval

3) As both result and cause of the above, there's virtually no existing funding for this kind of research

4) If you succeed, you're going to spark an immediate furor over fairness and the morality of human enhancement (which I'm not saying I personally agree with, but it will happen)

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

#115

Post by reb »

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?

The person you're replying wrote no one wants to study the effects of nootropics in healthy adults.

Sick people with insurance, particularly chronically ill ones, or those with illnesses that threaten their lives, are where I'd imagine the majority of money is made. You could probably argue treating the ill is more psychologically impactful work too. That's going to skew where researcher's focus their attention, especially if their work is funded by private industry.

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

#116

Post by sinenomine »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #99

One of the interesting things you pick up on from reading supplement blogs and fitness forums is that a lot of people have negative reactions to Omega 3 supplements. If you search for “omega-3 depression” you find a lot of stories from people whose depression started or worsened with omega-3 supplements, and resolved later. This is a particularly interesting find given that the placebo effect would be expected to go…

Regardless of personal reports you mention, choline is a very interesting substance due to demonstrated long-term attention benefits in children after being administered to their mothers during pregnancy: https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/fj.2021012...

This is as close to "life-changing" as it gets with these substances.

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

#117

Post by bearcream67 »

mililitre wrote: post #34
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…

Thanks for the feedback: will update the second link to point to the correct source, and I think "isolated findings" would be a more accurate word here. I agree that many of the studies are about cognitive decline, but there's also research on improving cognitive function, which would probably be closer to "brain boosting" category you mention. For example, from the first source I listed, "Six trials (including 1757…

"Current evidence supports the finding that omega-3 PUFAs with EPA ≥ 60% at a dosage of ≤1 g/d would have beneficial effects on depression." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-019-0515-5

Is this considered brain boosting?

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

#118

Post by dgacmu »

nradov wrote: post #107
dgacmu wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There are multiple clinical studies showing that vitamin D supplements can be effective in fighting COVID-19. Some other studies have shown no effect, but overall there seems to be some benefit. https://vitamin-d-covid.shotwell.ca/

See my reply to the sibling comment.

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

#119

Post by bearcream67 »

iillexial wrote: post #90
AppleBananaPie wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Not who you're replying to but https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-019-0515-5 from my other comment seems relevant. There are many, curious what apple will link

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

#120

Post by sinenomine »

Regardless of the potential nootropic effect discussed in the blogpost, the circulatory system (heart) benefits are pretty well studied and proven: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22370-2 though require considerable doses of the DHA or EHA.
Post reply on HN