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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?

#151
post #150

Anecdotally, I've read a long time ago that fish oil should help with sleep but I didn't start supplementing. Fast forward to this summer, I had big sleep problems, I couldn't keep a normal schedule and when I woke up I had terrible brain fog, took my like 2-3h in the morning to wake up properly and be able to function. Then I started taking fish oil, I got it by the bottle because I've read pills could have rancid o…

What brand/product did you buy?

This brand, might be different flavour. https://lysi.com/consumer-products/liquid-cod-liver-oil

I put like 5-10ml in a shot glass and fill the rest with water, just chug it and rinse the glass with water a few times. This way, I can barely taste it and have no fish oil aftertaste, the flavor they add might help too

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

#152
Is this an obedience to authority and child abuse study? You'd have to read the article and then click through on the links to see, unless my internet access is being MITM.

Edit. Didnt see any mention of neutrophils and the effect EPA has on their size and effectiveness, which can also increase brain function in a round about way and no mention of its testosterone enhancing ways which through its mild aromatase inhibition, which then contradicts the oestrogen-choline pathway and the effect choline has on the brain. Contradictions everywhere.

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

#153
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you all resolve the deficiencies? Can you link any product you took? I am in need of Vitamin D.

See Dr Berg: https://youtu.be/NFxQJmvgXOQ

That guy is a scientologist quack btw.

Here's one example of how incompetent he is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKNzLRmzLg

He basically turns low quality listicle nutrition pointers into videos with a whiteboard.

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

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Wou…

I lift weights and do other exercise but never took Creatine. Are there benefits that aren't tied to exercise performance specifically as a goal ? Does it have downsides in the body?

Non exercise performance benefits:

- helps build skeletal support muscles which reduces osteoarthritis and treats osteopetrosis

- helps strengthen the heart muscle

- the brain also uses atp, increased brain function (anecdotally, can help reduce brain fatigue)(Parkinson's, als, Huntingtons, possibly Alzheimer's

Downsides:

Increased load on the kidneys - which combines with an increased load from muscle breakdown (which it can reduce, but most likely the workout with it will increase muscle breakdown) - don't take it and workout hard if you are approaching renal failure.

Some stomach upset, diarrhea, and muscle bloating.

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

#155
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to get crippling Seasonal Affective Disorder every year, got tested, was badly deficient, and now don’t anymore.

How did you all resolve the deficiencies? Can you link any product you took? I am in need of Vitamin D.

1. Get tested 2. If low, start taking D3 with K 3. Keep taking D3 with K 4. Get tested again 5. Take more if no improvement

I take 5000 IU most days.

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

#156
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will want k3 if you take d2. Highly recommend getting tested for D deficiency. Source. I used to have crippling migraines almost every day. I don’t anymore.

You’ve mixed them up - it’s D3 with K2.

FWIW, your gut already synthesizes K2 from K1. K1 is easy to get from green leafy vegetables from spinach to broccoli, though I suppose easy to avoid if you don't eat well.

K2 from dietary doses of meat (MK-4) doesn't change circulating levels of MK-4 — it's basically not bioavailable. Though K2 from fermented products like cheeses and natto (MK-7) is bioavailable.

Doesn't seem like something worth worrying about if you have a varied diet that includes green veggies.

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

#157
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 don’t think that’s what a lot of people think boosting means. Certainly the family member I’m talking about, and the circle of people she associates with and sends breathlessly excited emails about, think these supplements will protect them from pretty much everything. That they don’t just have healthy immune systems, but boosted ones that literally will protect them from coronavirus, flu, even cancer. That’s why I don’t like that term, it’s become a cult byword.

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

#158
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…

Boost your immune system is so stupid. Which part is it boosting? Fever is an immune response.

Or maybe they mean "increase white blood cell count"?

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

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is one of optimization. There are arguably optimal doses of particular nutrients (i.e. Vitamin D) that would be extremely hard to achieve through "a balanced diet". Also most people do not and many can not eat a "balanced diet", as that requires a ton of effort to maintain. To put it another way, if the benefits of exercise were available in pill form on grocery store shelves, everyone would be taking th…

And what is a balanced diet? Is it the 1990s food pyramid that I was taught by my doctor to follow?

No, I'd say there's high consensus it's one that satisfies all of your vitamin and mineral RDA's. Also very high consensus it at least includes vegetable staples like broccoli, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and green salads with some way of obtaining proteins like meats or beans.

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

#160
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also the triage theory of aging where the idea is that when micronutrient levels are low (not low enough to cause acute symptoms but below the recommended daily allowance), they are triaged and used where needed (such as ATP production) at the expense of being used normally. The theory is that this can cause long-term problems such as neural decay, cancer, and other signs of aging. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g…

+1 for Bruce Ames. This idea profoundly shaped my thinking a few years ago. The one nit is I'm not sure how we'd go about testing it.

I wish him being alive at 94 was proof of something but afaik my smoking grandmother with no exercise doing nothing particularly healthy lived that long...

However, she also wasn't doing novel research at age 86. Wow.

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