8 ms·

I have a fun omega-3 anecdata point going right now. A friend of mine researches the stuff in mouse models and told me it's extremely beneficial, but you need t

I have a fun omega-3 anecdata point going right now. A friend of mine researches the stuff in mouse models and told me it's extremely beneficial, but you need to buy a fancy brand to avoid rancid oil or heavy metal contamination both of which ~null out the benefits. She recommended Sports Research. I bought some and started taking it and my 1:1 bullet chess ELO jumped from 850 to ~1070 over the next couple weeks. I play chess a bit like sushi ginger for the mind - purge working memory with a short intense task to context switch. I intentionally don't study openings or anything so I can use it as a benchmark for mental horsepower with a reasonably slow drift in the baseline from 'actually learning chess'. My friend says this effect is way too big to actually attribute to the vitamins and it has to be placebo etc but I'm thoroughly enjoying the idea that omega-3 Nick would win 3/4 bullet matches against deficient Nick. https://www.chess.com/member/nickparkerprint/stats/bullet?days=365 https://www.chess.com/member/nickparkerprint/stats/bullet?da...

64718283661 1y ago
Eat sardines. Good protein, high omega 3, high in other vitamins too.
rainworld 1y ago
Revealed: many common omega-3 fish oil supplements are ‘rancid’ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/17/revealed-many-common-omega-3-fish-oil-supplements-are-rancid https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/17/revealed...
- j45 1y ago
  Kirkland Omega 3’s seem to be decent, hope they are.
  - reducesuffering 1y ago
    They are pitifully low in EPA/DHA per $
    - j45 1y ago
      Agreed, it’s why I’m taking multiples. Open to other omega 3’s if there’s any recommendations.
      - theologic 1y ago
        Because of the issues with rancidity, I strongly prefer Costco because they churn through the stuff like there is no tomorrow. Their supply chains seem to be pretty straightforward from OEM to internal warehouse to to clearance. Just make sure to keep it refrigerated and move it from shelf to a cool place in a timely fashion period.
        j45 1y ago
        That's a useful consideration, thanks. I think I recall hearing something like that but promptly forgot when I realized I had to eat them by the handful per day. Still appreciative that something like this can be relatively accessed anywhere in a pinch or starting out.
    - theologic 1y ago
      I highly recommend them as they test well for freshness, but if you aim to get around 2G of EPA/DHA, you'll need 8 capsules. To your point that's a lot of capsules if you don't like swallowing pills. Compare with prescription below: Kirkland Signature Fish Oil provides 151.8 mg EPA and 119.1 mg DHA per tablet, totaling 270.9 mg EPA+DHA (Softgel). Prescription Lovaza (Rx)* provides 465 mg EPA and 375 mg DHA per tablet, totaling 840 mg EPA+DHA (Softgel (Rx)). Prescription Vascepa (Rx)* provides 960 mg EPA and <40 mg DHA per tablet, totaling ~960 mg EPA+DHA (Softgel (Rx)).
      - j45 1y ago
        Thanks so much. Reducing the average 1600 decisions a day we apparently make is helpful. It can be a lot of pills time wise as well.
FollowingTheDao 1y ago
I believe you. People really don’t understand how important omega-3 is for the transport and metabolism of neurotransmitters. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16963244/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16963244/
j45 1y ago
Appreciate the anecdata. There could have been a bit of a deficiency compared to baseline. I have heard of that brand too - quality matters. Omega 3 containing sufficient DHA is studied to reduce inflammation in the brain as well has help with other cognitive processes. Another one I had read is the insulin spike after a meal can be lowered significantly by having one omega-3 with each meal. I’ll try to circle back with a few of the studies.
maxboettinger 1y ago
How much do you take? Evidence-based dosage guidance for supplements is hard to find. Pointers to primary sources with empirically supported dose ranges for common supplements—magnesium, zinc, and multivitamins—appreciated!
- theologic 1y ago
  This really is a good use for Perplexity. I suggest a prompt along the lines of "what is the pubmed indications for what somebody should take for omega-3 or n3 pufa for X". This way your pull the primary research and you can have a conversation to your needs. With that written, generally the literature indicates that somewhere around 1-2G daily of EPA/DHA is in the range of what is fringe mainstream. There is a lot of variance around this and a lot of debate. For example, you'll get a debate about the ability of the body to convert 22 EPA into 24 DHA, so some will push DHA as the preferred source for the body.
  - adrian_b 1y ago
    The range of 1 to 2 g daily of DHA+EPA has been suggested based on the daily consumption of 2 g or more that is typical for populations like the Japanese, who include a great proportion of marine food in their diet and who appear to derive health benefits from this. I agree that for now there is no better evidence about which is the optimal daily intake. Quantities about 10 times less than this might be sufficient to avoid any obvious signs of nutritional deficiency, but are unlikely to be optimal. The capacity of converting ALA from vegetable oil into DHA and EPA may vary a lot between humans and it is typically lower in males than in females and also lower in older people than in young people. The less risky choice is to ensure that you eat enough DHA+EPA. Perhaps one does not need 1 to 2 g of DHA+EPA daily, but eating it is unlikely to be harmful, while not eating it carries definite risks.
    - Moto7451 1y ago
      There’s a study that 3g is needed to move triglycerides and HDL in a good direction. I did that under a doctor’s direction and it worked as intended. Didn’t do anything for my cholesterol otherwise which is one of the confounders in some of the studies. Sometimes people get better LDL, sometimes not. vLDL improved markedly but maybe I was just taking better care of my diet between tests. I don’t mind taking them so I kept the Omega 3s and started taking others for my LDL issues.
storus 1y ago
Omega-3 together with vitamin B2 repolarizes microglia from pro-inflammatory state to healing state, so no wonder your brain got a boost. Now, how can I tell if Omega-3 capsules are rancid?
- adrian_b 1y ago
  If you buy bottled oil instead of capsules, you can feel its taste, so you can sense whether it is rancid or it has any other suspect taste. Good omega-3 oil has a pleasant taste, there is really no need to eat capsules made from chemically-modified cellulose or who knows what other material that is not suitable as food. The omega-3 oil can be mixed with whatever oil you add to your food, e.g. to a salad.
  - motoboi 1y ago
    Does normal (not rancid) omega-3 oil smells like fish? Or is that an indicator of rancid?
  - storus 1y ago
    Yeah, I mean if I open a capsule, I can tell. But without opening it, is there any way to tell it's rancid?
    - smilliken 1y ago
      The best way is to open a capsule for each batch you receive to test it by taste, then store in the fridge.
    - adrian_b 1y ago
      Like I have said, you can buy omega-3 oil as liquid in bottles, even if it may be harder to find than in capsules (but with online shopping it is very easy to find many kinds of such oil). The pure oil is cheaper and you can feel its taste without having to break capsules. Moreover you do not have to ingest capsules made of dubious substances, besides the desired oil. Once opened (but preferably also before) such an oil bottle should be kept in a refrigerator. Some bottled oil includes flavors, e.g. lemon, which mask its natural taste. Unflavored omega 3 oil is preferable.
Qem 1y ago
> but you need to buy a fancy brand to avoid rancid oil or heavy metal contamination both of which ~null out the benefits I didn't know about the rancidity problem, thank you. Knew about the contamination issue. To avoid it, I tried to source oil derived from sources lower in the food chain, either vegan algae oil, or krill oil. But krill oil is super expensive, when compared to fish oil, with lower levels of EPA/DHA per capsule. The problem with algae oil it's that those I've found contain only DHA. Not sure about the relative importance between EPA/DHA, although.
- adrian_b 1y ago
  The so-called "algae" are not algae. "Algae oil" is a marketing term that has been chosen for sounding better, especially to vegans, than "Schizochytrium oil" or "oil from stramenopiles". Schizochytrium is an organism somewhat similar to a fungus, but which is not a fungus and it is distantly related to brown algae and diatoms (but unlike those, it is not an alga; it never had chloroplasts acquired by symbiosis). The first cultivated strains of Schizochytrium produced only DHA, but now there are strains that also produce EPA. At least in Europe, you can easily find Schizochytrium oil that contains DHA + EPA in a 2:1 proportion. For most humans, especially for most males, both DHA and EPA are needed, because the capacity of interconversion between them is typically insufficient in comparison with what is needed. However, even if it has become cheaper in recent years, Schizochytrium oil remains about 3 times more expensive than fish oil, per its fatty acid content. There are also many vendors that try to deceive their customers by selling diluted oil at about the same price as the decent vendors, therefore at a price many times higher per the fatty acid content. In Europe, in recent years I have preferred Möller's Pure Cod Liver Oil, which is quite tasty, either alone or added to food. Using bottled oil is much better than using capsules. Besides being cheaper and not ingesting garbage capsules, tasting the oil makes certain that it neither is rancid nor has any suspect content. This is also true for Schizochytrium oil. Many decades ago, cod liver oil had a reputation of something that children were forced to eat, despite its bad taste. This is completely untrue nowadays, when the oil is made either immediately after catching or from fish that have been frozen immediately after catching, so the oil has not degraded and it retains a pleasant taste. If Schizochytrium oil will become cheaper, i.e. with a price not more than double in comparison with pure cod liver oil, then I will switch to it, removing from my diet the only ingredient that is obtained by killing animals.
bongodongobob 1y ago
Eh, I could see it. When I look at my rating graph it's really easy to correlate with life events. Bad stuff at work, rating drops. Went on vacation, goes way up etc. Just being in a bad mood will fuck up my game, so I def think it's very possible it did affect your game that much. Not to mention that that level of chess is very volatile. A 2200 player would definitely not see the same effects.
JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> I play chess a bit like sushi ginger for the mind - purge working memory with a short intense task to context switch I use it as a stupidity meter. If I play a series of bad bullet games, I’m more cautious about my decision making that day.
da02 1y ago
Your life sounds amazing. What other discoveries have you found? Do you publish anywhere online? (social media, Youtube, etc.)
theologic 1y ago
Consumer Labs offers as a subscription service testing of various vitamins Including fish oil. They perform a great service, and I think it's economical in terms of determining if what you're buying is really what you want. Heavy metal contamination is classically not a problem because the fish oil is distilled. My guess is your researcher friend has fallen victim to the marketing of the pharmacological industry-- Although I do want to indicate they do have value, probably not the 500 percent markup that they put on what in essence is a generic product. Some natural fish oils are not distilled and do have this problem-- These are normally marketed as natural or cod liver oil or something that should hit your radar pretty quick. Your friend's concern about rancidity is clearly a problem And pretty well understood by people for years if you have any familiarity with chemistry. Omega threes get their name from the fact that you have a weird bend on the end of a long carbon molecule. This is susceptible to oxidation. This is true for any Omega 3 molecule regardless of its length Or it's sourcing. This includes omega-3 "drugs" like Vascepa (pure EPA) and Lovaza (EPA and DHA combination). Fortunately in testing, they have not found widespread issues with rancidity, although they definitely have found pockets. My normal suggestion to everybody is by a high volume manufacturer that you know is tearing through the product quite rapidly. My top suggestion is Costco. Then make sure you keep your fish oil in the refrigerator, and churn through it on a regular basis.
- p1esk 1y ago
  If I eat raw salmon (sashimi) a couple times a week, would I still benefit from consuming fish oil?
  - johnyzee 1y ago
    Yes. A real, raw source is almost certainly better than a processed and treated source. Packaged fish oil is sometimes rancid, unnoticeable to you, and those oxidation products are harmful. It is also heavily loaded with antioxidants, without which fresh fish oil goes rancid within hours, and which have their own detrimental effects when in excess.
    - anonymars 1y ago
bnycum 1y ago
I also started taking the Sports Research omega-3 capsules early this year. Seems the consensus for taking any omega-3 is that it's single-source and wild caught which is why I chose that brand. My biggest benefit has been my eyesight with way less floaters. However I started taking creatine this summer to help with my recovery from running now that I'm older. I will say I feel it's done more for my cognitive function than the omega-3 did.
- RankingMember 1y ago
  > biggest benefit has been my eyesight with way less floaters. Huh, did you also have to get any laser surgery done to get rid of them totally? My research always indicated that once you had floaters, they were basically just there forever and your brain just learned to work around them.
  - wil421 1y ago
    My eye doc said I had a slight case of blepharitis and that I should use high quality fish oil and eye lid cleaning wipes. The oil would help the membranes or gland in the eye lid, can’t remember which.
    - pretzellogician 1y ago
      I hadn't heard that! I'll have to take good fish oil religiously. Blepharitis is just the worst.
      - lawlessone 1y ago
        Think i had this before. had a lump on one eyelid. Went to GP and asked him if was cancer. He just recommended a clean warm wet cloth and prescribed me some peroxide eyedrops. All seems to be working and it's going away. I think it's worth mentioning that when it started i wasn't eating well and had lost weight due to stomach issues.
  - bnycum 1y ago
Finnucane 1y ago
Or just eat foods that have it.
- adrian_b 1y ago
  That would be a great solution, except that such foods are usually much more expensive than an equivalent amount of omega-3 oil. Moreover, due to the great human stupidity of dumping everything where "it becomes the problem of others", now it has become the problem of everybody that what were previously among the healthiest foods, i.e. most food items of marine origin, nowadays carry significant health risks, due to possible mercury content.
  - Finnucane 1y ago
    But they do have the advantage of being, you know, food, and not just a bottle of oil. And you can't live on a bottle of oil. You'll still need to buy the food.
    - adrian_b 1y ago
      Yes, but where I live, in the middle of a continent, not on some sea coast, I can buy food that contains all nutrients, except omega-3 fatty acids, for a price at least 10 to 20 times less than if I would buy food of marine origin. Adding to that food 10 milliliter of cod liver oil per day, which provides 2 grams of DHA+EPA, requires only the equivalent of 40 US cents per day. With most capsules, one would need 5 or more capsules for this amount of oil, which would increase the price a lot. To create the sensation of a higher content of DHA+EPA, on many capsule boxes the quantity that is written is for a pair of capsules, not for one capsule. Therefore I consider capsules as more like a scam for increasing oil price than as a useful method of delivery, which is why I have stopped using them many years ago. Looking right now on Amazon.com, it seems that the US prices for omega-3 oils are significantly higher than in Europe, at least double, the cheapest being labeled as dog food. I wonder whether there is any difference in quality between those labeled as dog food and those labeled as human food, e.g. if the "dog food" oils are also tested for contaminants. Otherwise, the "dog food" oils seemed not only cheaper, but also better, being pure and unflavored, while the "human food" oils suggested by Amazon were either flavored or in capsules. Here in Europe, I see such pure oils advertised for children and pregnant women, instead of as dog food.
mettamage 1y ago
Playing chess as a baseline thing to know how your cognitive processing is seems like a good idea.
trehalose 1y ago
How long was your bullet chess elo stable at 850 (and how often were you playing) before this experiment began? I'm asking because the act of playing constitutes practice, which could itself cause a rise in your elo. Bit of a confounding factor there, potentially.
bobbylarrybobby 1y ago
You can also get Omega-3 from algae oil (which is where fish get it) to alleviate concerns about heavy metal content. Algae may have heavy metals but should have less than any fish. I know nothing about this particular product, but they came up when I searched for it: https://www.norsan-omega.com/algae-oil/ https://www.norsan-omega.com/algae-oil/
partiallypro 1y ago
I do the same thing, except I subscribe to Thorne. I haven't noticed an uptick in perceived brain capacity, etc, but I can tell that my skin and hair are healthier. I started taking it because my cholesterol was all over the place and I desperately want to avoid taking a statin later in life. I'll be retesting that early next year. I've also started eating smoked salmon and canned sardines.
- FollowingTheDao 1y ago
  I’d really be interested in hearing what your heritage is, specifically on your mother side. If you read my other post, you’ll understand why I’m curious.
  - partiallypro 1y ago
    English/Scots-Irish/German
rpozarickij 1y ago
I used to take Nordic Naturals EPA Xtra for a long time in the past and when taking them I'd sometimes have days when my thinking was unusually fluid and clear, something I have never experienced while taking my current brand of Omega 3 (the European Moller's Omega 3 Extra). (There could definitely be other reasons too besides Omega 3 intake.) The Sports Research Triple Strength capsules just like the Nordical Naturals have much more EPA than DHA (but the ratio is different), so I might give these a try too. Another piece of personal anecdata related to Omega 3, is that I recently started taking most of it with dinner, and my sleep subjectively feels slightly better than when I used to take them earlier in the day.
stefantalpalaru 1y ago
[dead]

64718283661 1y ago

Eat sardines. Good protein, high omega 3, high in other vitamins too.

rainworld 1y ago

Revealed: many common omega-3 fish oil supplements are ‘rancid’ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/17/revealed-many-common-omega-3-fish-oil-supplements-are-rancid https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/17/revealed...

j45 1y ago
Kirkland Omega 3’s seem to be decent, hope they are.
- reducesuffering 1y ago
  They are pitifully low in EPA/DHA per $
  - j45 1y ago
    Agreed, it’s why I’m taking multiples. Open to other omega 3’s if there’s any recommendations.
    - theologic 1y ago
      Because of the issues with rancidity, I strongly prefer Costco because they churn through the stuff like there is no tomorrow. Their supply chains seem to be pretty straightforward from OEM to internal warehouse to to clearance. Just make sure to keep it refrigerated and move it from shelf to a cool place in a timely fashion period.
      - j45 1y ago
        That's a useful consideration, thanks. I think I recall hearing something like that but promptly forgot when I realized I had to eat them by the handful per day. Still appreciative that something like this can be relatively accessed anywhere in a pinch or starting out.
  - theologic 1y ago
    I highly recommend them as they test well for freshness, but if you aim to get around 2G of EPA/DHA, you'll need 8 capsules. To your point that's a lot of capsules if you don't like swallowing pills. Compare with prescription below: Kirkland Signature Fish Oil provides 151.8 mg EPA and 119.1 mg DHA per tablet, totaling 270.9 mg EPA+DHA (Softgel). Prescription Lovaza (Rx)* provides 465 mg EPA and 375 mg DHA per tablet, totaling 840 mg EPA+DHA (Softgel (Rx)). Prescription Vascepa (Rx)* provides 960 mg EPA and <40 mg DHA per tablet, totaling ~960 mg EPA+DHA (Softgel (Rx)).
    - j45 1y ago
      Thanks so much. Reducing the average 1600 decisions a day we apparently make is helpful. It can be a lot of pills time wise as well.

FollowingTheDao 1y ago

I believe you. People really don’t understand how important omega-3 is for the transport and metabolism of neurotransmitters. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16963244/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16963244/

j45 1y ago

Appreciate the anecdata. There could have been a bit of a deficiency compared to baseline. I have heard of that brand too - quality matters. Omega 3 containing sufficient DHA is studied to reduce inflammation in the brain as well has help with other cognitive processes. Another one I had read is the insulin spike after a meal can be lowered significantly by having one omega-3 with each meal. I’ll try to circle back with a few of the studies.

maxboettinger 1y ago

How much do you take? Evidence-based dosage guidance for supplements is hard to find. Pointers to primary sources with empirically supported dose ranges for common supplements—magnesium, zinc, and multivitamins—appreciated!

theologic 1y ago
This really is a good use for Perplexity. I suggest a prompt along the lines of "what is the pubmed indications for what somebody should take for omega-3 or n3 pufa for X". This way your pull the primary research and you can have a conversation to your needs. With that written, generally the literature indicates that somewhere around 1-2G daily of EPA/DHA is in the range of what is fringe mainstream. There is a lot of variance around this and a lot of debate. For example, you'll get a debate about the ability of the body to convert 22 EPA into 24 DHA, so some will push DHA as the preferred source for the body.
- adrian_b 1y ago
  The range of 1 to 2 g daily of DHA+EPA has been suggested based on the daily consumption of 2 g or more that is typical for populations like the Japanese, who include a great proportion of marine food in their diet and who appear to derive health benefits from this. I agree that for now there is no better evidence about which is the optimal daily intake. Quantities about 10 times less than this might be sufficient to avoid any obvious signs of nutritional deficiency, but are unlikely to be optimal. The capacity of converting ALA from vegetable oil into DHA and EPA may vary a lot between humans and it is typically lower in males than in females and also lower in older people than in young people. The less risky choice is to ensure that you eat enough DHA+EPA. Perhaps one does not need 1 to 2 g of DHA+EPA daily, but eating it is unlikely to be harmful, while not eating it carries definite risks.
  - Moto7451 1y ago
    There’s a study that 3g is needed to move triglycerides and HDL in a good direction. I did that under a doctor’s direction and it worked as intended. Didn’t do anything for my cholesterol otherwise which is one of the confounders in some of the studies. Sometimes people get better LDL, sometimes not. vLDL improved markedly but maybe I was just taking better care of my diet between tests. I don’t mind taking them so I kept the Omega 3s and started taking others for my LDL issues.

storus 1y ago

Omega-3 together with vitamin B2 repolarizes microglia from pro-inflammatory state to healing state, so no wonder your brain got a boost. Now, how can I tell if Omega-3 capsules are rancid?

adrian_b 1y ago
If you buy bottled oil instead of capsules, you can feel its taste, so you can sense whether it is rancid or it has any other suspect taste. Good omega-3 oil has a pleasant taste, there is really no need to eat capsules made from chemically-modified cellulose or who knows what other material that is not suitable as food. The omega-3 oil can be mixed with whatever oil you add to your food, e.g. to a salad.
- motoboi 1y ago
  Does normal (not rancid) omega-3 oil smells like fish? Or is that an indicator of rancid?
- storus 1y ago
  Yeah, I mean if I open a capsule, I can tell. But without opening it, is there any way to tell it's rancid?
  - smilliken 1y ago
    The best way is to open a capsule for each batch you receive to test it by taste, then store in the fridge.
  - adrian_b 1y ago
    Like I have said, you can buy omega-3 oil as liquid in bottles, even if it may be harder to find than in capsules (but with online shopping it is very easy to find many kinds of such oil). The pure oil is cheaper and you can feel its taste without having to break capsules. Moreover you do not have to ingest capsules made of dubious substances, besides the desired oil. Once opened (but preferably also before) such an oil bottle should be kept in a refrigerator. Some bottled oil includes flavors, e.g. lemon, which mask its natural taste. Unflavored omega 3 oil is preferable.

Qem 1y ago

> but you need to buy a fancy brand to avoid rancid oil or heavy metal contamination both of which ~null out the benefits I didn't know about the rancidity problem, thank you. Knew about the contamination issue. To avoid it, I tried to source oil derived from sources lower in the food chain, either vegan algae oil, or krill oil. But krill oil is super expensive, when compared to fish oil, with lower levels of EPA/DHA per capsule. The problem with algae oil it's that those I've found contain only DHA. Not sure about the relative importance between EPA/DHA, although.

adrian_b 1y ago
The so-called "algae" are not algae. "Algae oil" is a marketing term that has been chosen for sounding better, especially to vegans, than "Schizochytrium oil" or "oil from stramenopiles". Schizochytrium is an organism somewhat similar to a fungus, but which is not a fungus and it is distantly related to brown algae and diatoms (but unlike those, it is not an alga; it never had chloroplasts acquired by symbiosis). The first cultivated strains of Schizochytrium produced only DHA, but now there are strains that also produce EPA. At least in Europe, you can easily find Schizochytrium oil that contains DHA + EPA in a 2:1 proportion. For most humans, especially for most males, both DHA and EPA are needed, because the capacity of interconversion between them is typically insufficient in comparison with what is needed. However, even if it has become cheaper in recent years, Schizochytrium oil remains about 3 times more expensive than fish oil, per its fatty acid content. There are also many vendors that try to deceive their customers by selling diluted oil at about the same price as the decent vendors, therefore at a price many times higher per the fatty acid content. In Europe, in recent years I have preferred Möller's Pure Cod Liver Oil, which is quite tasty, either alone or added to food. Using bottled oil is much better than using capsules. Besides being cheaper and not ingesting garbage capsules, tasting the oil makes certain that it neither is rancid nor has any suspect content. This is also true for Schizochytrium oil. Many decades ago, cod liver oil had a reputation of something that children were forced to eat, despite its bad taste. This is completely untrue nowadays, when the oil is made either immediately after catching or from fish that have been frozen immediately after catching, so the oil has not degraded and it retains a pleasant taste. If Schizochytrium oil will become cheaper, i.e. with a price not more than double in comparison with pure cod liver oil, then I will switch to it, removing from my diet the only ingredient that is obtained by killing animals.

bongodongobob 1y ago

Eh, I could see it. When I look at my rating graph it's really easy to correlate with life events. Bad stuff at work, rating drops. Went on vacation, goes way up etc. Just being in a bad mood will fuck up my game, so I def think it's very possible it did affect your game that much. Not to mention that that level of chess is very volatile. A 2200 player would definitely not see the same effects.

JumpCrisscross 1y ago

> I play chess a bit like sushi ginger for the mind - purge working memory with a short intense task to context switch I use it as a stupidity meter. If I play a series of bad bullet games, I’m more cautious about my decision making that day.

da02 1y ago

Your life sounds amazing. What other discoveries have you found? Do you publish anywhere online? (social media, Youtube, etc.)

theologic 1y ago

Consumer Labs offers as a subscription service testing of various vitamins Including fish oil. They perform a great service, and I think it's economical in terms of determining if what you're buying is really what you want. Heavy metal contamination is classically not a problem because the fish oil is distilled. My guess is your researcher friend has fallen victim to the marketing of the pharmacological industry-- Although I do want to indicate they do have value, probably not the 500 percent markup that they put on what in essence is a generic product. Some natural fish oils are not distilled and do have this problem-- These are normally marketed as natural or cod liver oil or something that should hit your radar pretty quick. Your friend's concern about rancidity is clearly a problem And pretty well understood by people for years if you have any familiarity with chemistry. Omega threes get their name from the fact that you have a weird bend on the end of a long carbon molecule. This is susceptible to oxidation. This is true for any Omega 3 molecule regardless of its length Or it's sourcing. This includes omega-3 "drugs" like Vascepa (pure EPA) and Lovaza (EPA and DHA combination). Fortunately in testing, they have not found widespread issues with rancidity, although they definitely have found pockets. My normal suggestion to everybody is by a high volume manufacturer that you know is tearing through the product quite rapidly. My top suggestion is Costco. Then make sure you keep your fish oil in the refrigerator, and churn through it on a regular basis.

p1esk 1y ago
If I eat raw salmon (sashimi) a couple times a week, would I still benefit from consuming fish oil?
- johnyzee 1y ago
  Yes. A real, raw source is almost certainly better than a processed and treated source. Packaged fish oil is sometimes rancid, unnoticeable to you, and those oxidation products are harmful. It is also heavily loaded with antioxidants, without which fresh fish oil goes rancid within hours, and which have their own detrimental effects when in excess.
  - anonymars 1y ago

bnycum 1y ago

I also started taking the Sports Research omega-3 capsules early this year. Seems the consensus for taking any omega-3 is that it's single-source and wild caught which is why I chose that brand. My biggest benefit has been my eyesight with way less floaters. However I started taking creatine this summer to help with my recovery from running now that I'm older. I will say I feel it's done more for my cognitive function than the omega-3 did.

RankingMember 1y ago
> biggest benefit has been my eyesight with way less floaters. Huh, did you also have to get any laser surgery done to get rid of them totally? My research always indicated that once you had floaters, they were basically just there forever and your brain just learned to work around them.
- wil421 1y ago
  My eye doc said I had a slight case of blepharitis and that I should use high quality fish oil and eye lid cleaning wipes. The oil would help the membranes or gland in the eye lid, can’t remember which.
  - pretzellogician 1y ago
    I hadn't heard that! I'll have to take good fish oil religiously. Blepharitis is just the worst.
    - lawlessone 1y ago
      Think i had this before. had a lump on one eyelid. Went to GP and asked him if was cancer. He just recommended a clean warm wet cloth and prescribed me some peroxide eyedrops. All seems to be working and it's going away. I think it's worth mentioning that when it started i wasn't eating well and had lost weight due to stomach issues.
- bnycum 1y ago

Finnucane 1y ago

Or just eat foods that have it.

adrian_b 1y ago
That would be a great solution, except that such foods are usually much more expensive than an equivalent amount of omega-3 oil. Moreover, due to the great human stupidity of dumping everything where "it becomes the problem of others", now it has become the problem of everybody that what were previously among the healthiest foods, i.e. most food items of marine origin, nowadays carry significant health risks, due to possible mercury content.
- Finnucane 1y ago
  But they do have the advantage of being, you know, food, and not just a bottle of oil. And you can't live on a bottle of oil. You'll still need to buy the food.
  - adrian_b 1y ago
    Yes, but where I live, in the middle of a continent, not on some sea coast, I can buy food that contains all nutrients, except omega-3 fatty acids, for a price at least 10 to 20 times less than if I would buy food of marine origin. Adding to that food 10 milliliter of cod liver oil per day, which provides 2 grams of DHA+EPA, requires only the equivalent of 40 US cents per day. With most capsules, one would need 5 or more capsules for this amount of oil, which would increase the price a lot. To create the sensation of a higher content of DHA+EPA, on many capsule boxes the quantity that is written is for a pair of capsules, not for one capsule. Therefore I consider capsules as more like a scam for increasing oil price than as a useful method of delivery, which is why I have stopped using them many years ago. Looking right now on Amazon.com, it seems that the US prices for omega-3 oils are significantly higher than in Europe, at least double, the cheapest being labeled as dog food. I wonder whether there is any difference in quality between those labeled as dog food and those labeled as human food, e.g. if the "dog food" oils are also tested for contaminants. Otherwise, the "dog food" oils seemed not only cheaper, but also better, being pure and unflavored, while the "human food" oils suggested by Amazon were either flavored or in capsules. Here in Europe, I see such pure oils advertised for children and pregnant women, instead of as dog food.

mettamage 1y ago

Playing chess as a baseline thing to know how your cognitive processing is seems like a good idea.

trehalose 1y ago

How long was your bullet chess elo stable at 850 (and how often were you playing) before this experiment began? I'm asking because the act of playing constitutes practice, which could itself cause a rise in your elo. Bit of a confounding factor there, potentially.

bobbylarrybobby 1y ago

You can also get Omega-3 from algae oil (which is where fish get it) to alleviate concerns about heavy metal content. Algae may have heavy metals but should have less than any fish. I know nothing about this particular product, but they came up when I searched for it: https://www.norsan-omega.com/algae-oil/ https://www.norsan-omega.com/algae-oil/

partiallypro 1y ago

I do the same thing, except I subscribe to Thorne. I haven't noticed an uptick in perceived brain capacity, etc, but I can tell that my skin and hair are healthier. I started taking it because my cholesterol was all over the place and I desperately want to avoid taking a statin later in life. I'll be retesting that early next year. I've also started eating smoked salmon and canned sardines.

FollowingTheDao 1y ago
I’d really be interested in hearing what your heritage is, specifically on your mother side. If you read my other post, you’ll understand why I’m curious.
- partiallypro 1y ago
  English/Scots-Irish/German

rpozarickij 1y ago

I used to take Nordic Naturals EPA Xtra for a long time in the past and when taking them I'd sometimes have days when my thinking was unusually fluid and clear, something I have never experienced while taking my current brand of Omega 3 (the European Moller's Omega 3 Extra). (There could definitely be other reasons too besides Omega 3 intake.) The Sports Research Triple Strength capsules just like the Nordical Naturals have much more EPA than DHA (but the ratio is different), so I might give these a try too. Another piece of personal anecdata related to Omega 3, is that I recently started taking most of it with dinner, and my sleep subjectively feels slightly better than when I used to take them earlier in the day.

stefantalpalaru 1y ago

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