Please talk to a doctor if you're curious about this instead of following this advice. Megadosing vitamins and supplements comes with risks not addressed by the author.
Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
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Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#52Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.
Isn't the oral intake pretty much negligible anyway? I remember getting a vitamin d supplement in a syringe (to be put on bread, from a physician) containing a very large dosis. I'm not stating the dosage is wrong. Looks like it is anyway.
It is easily possible to overdose on oral Vitamin D tablets and damage your body.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#53Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
So 5000 IU is the recommended amount?
5000 IU is very high, might be beneficial during the winter for folks with very fair skin. but most probably shouldn't take that much every day
You mean very dark skin?
It's my understanding that northern Europeans evolved fair skin in order to cope with the lack of vitamin D in their diet.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#55And better than taking pills for the former, add hemp hearts or flax seeds to your cereal. One serving of hemp hearts has 10 grams of protein and 12 grams of Omegas 3 and 6. Flax seeds are lower in protein but an even better source of Omega 3 in particular.
Never going to advocate against eating whole foods if they taste good! But beware, the ALA omega 3 fat in flax and plant sources is not the DHA and EPA omega 3 fats used by animal cells, and so it's not as potent as what's in fish.
The main problem with ALA is that to have the good effects attributed to omega-3s, it must be converted by a limited supply of enzymes into EPA and DHA. As a result, only a small fraction of it has omega-3's effects — 10%–15%, maybe less. The remaining 85%–90% gets burned up as energy or metabolized in other ways. So in terms of omega-3 "power," a tablespoon of flaxseed oil is worth about 700 milligrams (mg) of EPA and DHA. That's still more than the 300 mg of EPA and DHA in many 1-gram fish oil capsules, but far less than what the 7 grams listed on the label might imply.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/why-not-flaxseed...
Also, beware of omega 6 fats. Seed oils (corn, soy, canola) used in commercial food products are incredibly omega 6 dominant in terms of polyunsaturated fat content. Consequently, the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fats we consume has plummeted as food production has industrialized. Omega 3 fats are precursors to generally anti-inflammatory signaling compounds, whereas omega 6 fats are precursors to pro-inflammatory signaling compounds. The bias in fat intake leads to more pro-inflammatory signaling in the body, and a lot of alt health types have alleged this is a major causative factor in the obesity epidemic.
This is important for depression, because chronic brain inflammation as a cause of depression was one of the going hypotheses at least a decade ago when I last looked into all of this. Upping omega 3 intake is an intervention that can address chronic inflammation, which is potentially why it improves some cases of depression.
Pretty much nobody in the west needs more omega 6s these days. I hear even farmed salmon eat primarily corn and soy based feeds these days, meaning their fat ratio is skewed much more heavily toward omega 6 than wild salmon and fish.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#56Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.
Is "IU" another case of xkcd 927?
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#57Can I just add: In addition to this, if you struggle with anxiety or have some sort of ADHD, then try cutting out caffeine entirely . Not just switching to "decaf" (which isn't), but cutting out tea and coffee, and switching to an alternative like Barleycup. Doing this has had a massive positive effect for me, and combined with decent nutrition and daily exercise, has been wonderful.
How long would you say it takes to feel the effects after switching? I did this a couple of years ago and as far as I remember the only real effect was my energy levels were more stable.
I gave it maybe 2-3 months and decided it's not worth it.
Tempted to give it another shot!
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#58And better than taking pills for the former, add hemp hearts or flax seeds to your cereal. One serving of hemp hearts has 10 grams of protein and 12 grams of Omegas 3 and 6. Flax seeds are lower in protein but an even better source of Omega 3 in particular.
I'm not an expert, but I've done a bunch of reading on this previously, and also skimmed the article which also mentions some parts of this. First, when taking omega 3 supplements, you generally care about increasing the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6. Hemp hearts have much more omega 6 than omega 3, so they're not very effective for improving the ratio. Second, hemp hearts contain ALA, while what you generally want to…
The ratio of Omega 6 to 3 needs to be below 4:1 to be a good source of Omega 3, and hemp hearts are at 3:1, so they're listed as a good source of Omega 3.
Flax seeds are even better just for Omega 3 at 1:3, but hemp hearts have other benefits, like more protein, which is why I called them out. That said, I eat a fair amount of flax seeds as well.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#59The only problem here is that "going from an F to a C in mental health" is vastly different than "going from a C to an A." It's very well known and well documented that antidepressants have very little effect on mild depression compared to say, exercise, but that F grade of depression tends to be a different beast with different causes.
That's not to suggest that exercise etc isn't great, just that society has come a long way in destigmatizing mental health and just being like "oh just take fish oil" to someone dealing with that kind of depression, either through shitty genes or childhood trauma or whatever, can be really harmful.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I was a vegan for 10 years, and found out I had basically zero Omega 3 in my blood I see your disclaimer, but just for more context, vegans can get Omega 3 without taking pills per se. Flax seeds are an excellent source. I often add a spoonful to a bowl of oatmeal or as a pancake topping along with fruit sauce and granola.
Flaxseeds are probably the most flavorless things I've ever tasted. Chia seeds taste ok but you need to prep them by soaking which is a pain (or experience bloating). All other seeds have more omega 6 than omega 3.
Funny - I feel the opposite about chia. Soaked and plumped is when I hate them. Dry on salads/etc. or just submerged in an active bowl I'm eating is when I like them most - the crunch adds texture to what I'm eating.