Fish oil has been tested 6 ways to Sunday because it has been (for years) heavily promoted by naturopaths, the health food industry, and agri-business, especially factory fish farms. With respect to coronary heart disease, it does, as a sensible person would guess, absolutely nothing. With respect to brain function, IQ and mood, the preponderance of evidence is exactly the same. Take a lot and you'll get the runs. Also, people need to be very, very cautious. Every supplement carefully tested from protein, to calcium, to iron, and every "natural" treatment from kava to green tea extract has been implicated in serious damage to health, including liver failure, kidney failure, heart attack and death. This is just a wild west, a commercial snake oil bonanza, ignored by government regulators because the big business behind it is so effective with its political donations, lobbying and law suits (as well as paying for low-quality alleged "scientific studies", like the alcohol industry). Apart from pregnant women taking folate and possibly some vitamin D and iron, and those with clearly diagnosed deficiencies, everyone is well advised to stay far, far away, spending their money on a good variety of high quality real foods. Testimonials mean, as they did in the earlier snake oil days, absolutely nothing. The person may be sincere, but the effect they claim is pure placebo.
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I feel a difference within 30 minutes. Works!
I have been taking 2800 mg. of Nature Made fish oil for many years to lower my triglycerides. I have also suffered from a life long anxiety problem and I can honestly say the fish oil has had zero effect on reducing my anxiety. I use low doses of Klonopin (clonazepam) for my anxiety and that has worked great for over fifteen years.
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I also take clonazepam before going to sleep to prevent a nocturnal seizure presenting as a panic attack or when I was younger, somnabulence. It occurs about an hour after falling asleep and just prior to the REM stage.
@Hank Philips agreed - I have a lifelong history of anxiety and panic attacks and took fish oil for years - high grade (Carlson's, Barlean's and Nordic Naturals) and yet noticed any impact whatsoever. But I kept trying repeatedly, because of all the articles out there claiming their effectiveness. Like the old saying about insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results.
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This topic needs more research and in-depth reporting.
Some questions:
Is the quality of fish oil consistent?
lookup consumer and other reports
Are there alternatives to fish oil that will produce similar benefits?
lookup flax oil and flax seed
The US Army conducted a long term research project that analyzed DHA levels and suicide.
All 800 soldiers who died by suicide had low DHA levels.
The soldiers in the control group with the lowest DHA levels were at highest risk for suicide.
DHA levels in the control group returned to normal with 5 grams of fish oil/day.
google us army dha suicide
Ref
"Fats That Heal" by Udo Erasmus
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@David Andrew Henry
Here's the link to the article that you reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3259251/. My only problem with your comment is that I don't see the reference to 5 grams of fish oil per day being the normalizing dose; but if I've missed it, please let me know. Thanks for calling attention to this.
Bingo. Reduce if not eliminate caffeine and take all three Omegas for a time and when needed. It can restore and repair the bad affects of all drugs.
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Algae contains the Omega-3 that fish eat. So one can take supplements direct from algae sources to avoid fish and oceanic pollution.
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But especially Omega-3 can help fully restore after withdrawing from or tapering off of psychiatric drugs.
Since high omega-3 levels in the bloodstream have been correlated with the msot aggressive form of prostate cancer, I think I'll pass.
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Maybe see what happens when average men give all of alcohol, coffee, meat and dairy good long breaks first.
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@Rosie Cass
Maybe something, maybe nothing. I'm a lifelong vegetarian, don't smoke, barely drink and exercise regularly. I was just diagnosed with colon cancer. The notion that what you eat or don't eat is some kind of magic bullet against cancer is nonsense.
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@David Hughes, I was alarmed at the suggestion that omega-3 might correlate with aggressive prostate cancer, so I looked it up. It turns out that the study involved was looking at something else entirely, so this conclusion is an example of what researchers call "p-hacking" and shouldn't be trusted for that reason alone, and the questionable methodology behind this conclusion throws the idea even further into doubt.
You can read a good critique of the study at https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(13)01000-8/pdf
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Reciently a friend of mine has been using full spectrum CBD oil
and swears it reduces his anxiety.
I may try it.
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@New World
How long did your friend take the CBD oil before he noticed an improvement?
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This article does not correctly reflect the omega-3 dosages discussed in the research. In the analysis cited, it clearly states that the "The anxiolytic effect of omega-3 PUFAs was significantly better than that of controls only in subgroups with a higher dosage (at least 2000 mg/d) and not in subgroups with a lower dosage (<2000 mg/d)." The New York Times' wording, however, implies that people need less than, or a maximum of 2000 mg daily to see results, which is misleading.
This wording makes a big difference for consumers taking omega-3 supplements. Regular fish oil capsules often don't contain more than 300 mg EPA/DHA -- a far cry from the dosages that this analysis and others suggest are associated with benefits.
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@Bo Martinsen, MD
"Regular fish oil capsules often don't contain more than 300 mg EPA/DHA "
Yup. You need at least 7 regular fish oil capsules or 4 molecularity distilled purified fish oil capsules to get 2000mg of Omega-3s. (I take 5 times that) It may sound like a lot but it's less than an ounce of fish oil per day.
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@Retired do you recommend a particular brand?