Omega-3 intake counteracts symptoms of anxiety and depression in mice

"Omega-3" is as vague and underdescriptive term as "marihuana". We're better educated now and we can focus on the eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) where it comes to Omega 3. And we can point at THC, CBN, CBD or any of the 100+ other cannabinoids present in cannabis flowers when we describe "marihuana", "weed" or "pot".

And there's a reason behind my local pharmacy offering THC-focused or CBD-focused pot, and my local supplements store offering DHA-focused and EPA-focused softgels, produced by the same company and under the same brand. How these these products act varies by active substances content and the person. Both "Omega 3" and "marihuana" are dumbed-down terms, meaningless when it comes to studies or papers.

There's a ton of studies on nih.gov about EPA's potential as an antidepressant, misaligned with DHA-related articles on the subject, that I could link. But I can say - purely anecdotally - that I removed psypost.org feed from my RSS reader a few months after ChatGPT became public.

Omega 3 supplements are such a wild world. So many low quality ones, so many different types, and so many claims about them being miracle cures (that then don't hold out for later studies).

I have severe chronic dry eye, and omega 3 is one of the first things they recommend. But then in the past 5 or 6 years there have been a bunch of studies that have shown there is no actual measurable effect.

Some people still claim that it helps, but that you have to get it by actually eating Omega 3 rich fish, and not just taking the supplements. Either way, I've never seen any difference with my dry eye symptoms.

Why are we still looking at mice studies for such a human-used substance?

This study used EPA: 0.55 mg/kg/day, and DHA: 0.55 mg/kg/day.

Among the largest I've heard in human studies are things like 4,400mg EPA and 2,200mg DHA.

Examine.com is one of the best resources to understand what evidence shows about supplements.

EPA appears to be the component that works for depression.

Also, important these days, is the quality: it should be filtered from heavy metals, and processed and stored in a way that avoids it going rancid by the time you consume it.

I strongly believe in the benefits of having a higher omega-3:omega-6 ratio than is common nowadays.

On a related topic, I started taking bacopa monnieri and it improved my memory and mental endurance, anxiety and depression. I gave it to my wife and had the totally opposite effect:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacopa_monnieri

Also I can drink coffee and won't make any effect on my sleep, while my wife gets the boost. I wouldn't be surprised the effects of all those supplements depend on your body chemistry.

They can't differentiate the population, so all these studies will average zero.

This definitely tracks with my experience. I take a tablespoon of cod liver oil daily and I've definitely noticed a complete flatlining of my emotional states. My baseline is just basic calmness and a general lack of "monkeymind"/intrusive thoughts. Really amazed its not a more prescribed treatment.

High long chain omega 3 and low omega 6 not only revered my hyperlipidemia (through stimulating reverse cholesterol transport) but notably reduces my symptoms of schizoaffective disorder bipolar type (I am assuming this is through assisting with carecholamine receptor function).

I came to the conclusion this diet would help me by noting the polymorphisms in my FADS1 and FADS2 genes linked to needing more long chain PUFAs.

You might also be interested that omega 3 is responsible for making natural Cannabinoid (endocannabinoids) in humans which could be linked to the lower anxiety.

Well this is a great thing to see an hour after buying some O3s.

I have read though that omega-3 supplements seem to not do much, it's the intake of them dietarily that show results, I'm not sure how current that research is. I've also read that algae as a source might be better? There's a tremendous amount of conflicting information.

There’s never been a better time to be a mouse

There's a study about omega3 supplementation that says that if children in a family supplement it, that the parents have a better relationship, even if they don't supplement. I can probably dig it out, given enough time with a search engine.

Another one is D. over the course of three years i managed to help my wife get above 100ng/ml 25-hydroxy-D on a blood test. Of course every doctor called and said "too high" and her Calcium is too high too, but not from the D3, folks, because she takes K2 Mk7. Her calcium is high because she mostly drinks fortified orange juice and was taking 1200mg calcium per day at the direction of her oncologist. She has a lot of chronic issues and we're slowly trying to mitigate everything possible with diet and supplements. The specialist said "stop calcium immediately" and "reduce D for 1 month" only. for those aware her Ca was 10.9 ("good" range is ~9.0 - 10.2). I guarantee that her calcium will go back to normal because of the K2 between now and her next blood panel. note: they don't actually test D levels unless you ask, in general. One might wonder why that is - i know i certainly do.

In fact, i was just about to go to the pharmacy to get Omega-3 supplements when i saw this post. Her chart shows that she must supplement omega 3, since she won't eat baked salmon. My kid already has vitamins with omegas in them.

What i recommend is actually reading studies - completely - and if you have any questions or doubts, befriend researchers in biology or other life sciences that can skim the paper and tell you "meh" or "hey that's cool". Studies contradict, studies may have bad inputs or methodology, the only way to know for sure is to read as many as you can as thoroughly as you can, and if possible, consult experts. Medical doctors of the "PCP" persuasion are not experts, generally.

This is exciting, and should be fairly easy to confirm/deny with a double blind trial in humans. There's no money to be had in it for big pharma, so funding it would have to come from some other means, but it should be possible.

All omega-3 supplements are probably somewhat rancid and possibly harmful, specially in solid / pill form! I personally take cod liver oil (liquid) from a reputable brand, but I still don't %100 trust it to be healthy. It's much better to eat fatty fish or actual cod liver.

Eating only eggs, beef, fish, olive oil, greek yogurt, blueberries, walnuts and some cheese and dark leafy greens can do the same.

This is great, but why does Omega 3 paradoxically reduce expression of dopamine receptors and dopamine release

When I took omega-3 in addition to duloxetine, I got terrible brain zaps the whole day.

It should not be title Omega-3!

The article clearly States Omega-3, 8, and Omega-9!

Does caffeine intake nullify this effect?

This isn’t new.

Anxiety and depressions are feelings. Eating feels good for a little bit. But I could easily make the claim that getting a dog and taking it for regular walks in nature counteracts symptoms of anxiety and depression. Doing Yoga with synchronized breathing...same Taking a hot bath, a sauna session, a massage, sex, a long list. Why do so many people think eating something is the path to good health.

Also knowing how things are encoded in neural networks, where it's a combination of variables that sets off some behaviour. Why do Scientists still persist on trying to isolate a single variable.