I think there's a practical distinction between the kind of term "omega-3" is vs the kind of term "marijuana" is.

You mostly only find THC/CBD/etc in marijuana; and we mostly only consume marijuana to get those particular active ingredients into our bodies. So you can forget about "marijuana" as a category for describing those compounds, and just speak of the compounds themselves — measure marijuana strains by the presence of those active ingredients; extract and purify one particular active ingredient and sell it; etc. Doing this doesn't lose you anything; in fact, it's a pure win, as the use of precise language gives people a tool to leverage to more precisely ask for the effect they're looking for, and gives suppliers a tool to more precisely describe what they're selling.

While the omega-3 constituent compounds can be treated this way, they are not solely a thing we extract or synthesize to put in precise-molarity-per-dose pills; they're also a thing found in food. Many different foods; with most of them being foods people eat for reasons beyond just getting omega-3s in their bodies. In other words, the "omega-3" constituent compounds are nutrients.

And many of these omega-3-containing foods — fish, for example — aren't carefully cultivated species that have known ratios of the omega-3 constituent compounds that could be put on the label of the food-product. Rather, the ratio of those constituent compounds is pretty much random per individual food item. One salmon at the grocery store has omega-3 fats which happen to be high in DHA, while the next salmon beside it in the same cooler display is higher in EPA. All you can in general about a food product — all a supplier can say, and all a food shopper can generally expect to look for — is a food that is "high in omega-3s."

As long as people are interested in optimizing their health in a loose manner by eating "healthful foods" — rather than taking specifically-formulated supplements — I don't expect they'll let go of the generic categorical term "omega-3." When it comes to food, "it contains omega-3s" is almost always the tightest bound you can put on the "nutritional value" of a given food.

I had been under the mistaken impression that DHA was only interesting inasmuch as your body inefficiently turns it into EPA.

> Once the behavioral tests were completed, the mice were killed, and their blood and tissues were analyzed to assess the biological effects of stress and omega-3 supplementation.

I think they are trying to show biological causes by carefully controlling the mice’s entire life and then cracking them open at the end of the study. Can’t really do that with humans.

It is suspect to me that a lot of waste products end up being pushed as supplements. Also, there is a swath of junk science associated with nutrition publishing.

I've researched trustworthy brands a lot, the ones I settled on are Nootropics Depot, Viva Naturals and Nordic Naturals. I prefer those with only Vit E as preservative.

Another important aspect regarding supplements; so few are tested for how well they are absorbed by human digestion.

Do you get headaches because of your dry eyes? (specifically, after staring at screens for a long time)

I have dry eye as well. What have you done that helps? Omega 3 didn’t do anything for me either.

> Omega 3 supplements are such a wild world.

That's why you should get it from seafood and grass fed mammals (if you need long chain PUFAs) or flaxseed (if you need short chain PUFAs).

There are probably many other things in seafood that co-exist with Omega 3 for a reason.

It's amazing the lengths some people will go to avoid eating fish.

Have you tried Lutein?

Cod is super high in Vitamin D, and considered by many historians the secret food that contributed to Vikings success.

https://goodness-exchange.com/cod-vikings-vitamin-d/

It didn't affect me at all when I took it for a few years. No noticeable positive or negative effect.

Does it also flatline your positive emotions? Ashwaganda does a similar thing for a lot of people, it tamps down their anxiety and depression but suppresses most other emotions as well (it's called anhedonia).

Bacopa Monnieri aka Brahmi has been very effective to eliminate mental turbulence for me. It has a calming, sharp, bitter effect. It's like it's cleaning something up. If my mind is overactive in bed at night I take Brahmi and I quickly feel settled.

Yep, what works for one may not work for others. Some people find L-theanine supplement helpful for reducing anxiety. For me it kind of worked, but then gave bad anxiety as a withdrawal symptom.

> I have read though that omega-3 supplements seem to not do much

afaik that holds for a lot (if not most) commonly used supplements (vitamins are another popular offender). Sometimes the reason is the food matrix effect, where just isolated nutrients are not as beneficial as when they are consumed along with other nutrients. Sometimes (like vitamin D or testosterone), the biomarker is reflective of health status, not predictive.

From this [1] podcast (2y old at this point) I too seem to remember that it doesn't do much most of the time, that supplements are generally untrustworthy w.r.t. dosing and purity and there's also a slight chance of giving yourself afib.

1. https://soundcloud.com/user-344313169/episode-193-fish-oil

There's already research on Omega 3 supplementation's impact on depression + anxiety symptoms in humans. The results generally show that Omega 3 is roughly as effective as antidepressants, and can be safely taken in addition to antidepressants for an even greater effect.

> There's no money to be had in it for big pharma

IIRC there's several patent medicine versions of omega 3 such as icosapent ethyl

as opposed to supplement studies in mice, which are notoriously lucrative

Or a worse one. I know you're making a joke, but it doesn't seem that funny to me — U.S. biomedical industry goes through about 111 million lab mice and rats each year [1]. Most mice lives are short and cruel, living their entire lives in tiny plastic boxes and often subjected to horrific experiences. We should be more thankful.

[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/how-many-mice-and-ra...

This isn't funny. Mice and rats are among the most intelligent animals used in research, and despite ethical regulations on their treatment, they are often ignored. Many of these animals endure severe procedures without adequate pain relief, or none at all. This widespread suffering also causes mental health problems for many of the researchers who have to regularly euthanize them. These animals sacrifice their lives to improve human health and well-being. At the very least, we should show respect for their pain and suffering, which is undertaken for our benefit.

Right up until any given study with mice concludes...

That's interesting, zaps are a withdrawal syndrome of SSRIs (and duloxetine).

Yeah, I've noticed too much Omega 6 is at least one big cause of my anxiety.

Avoiding vegetable oils (and foods that are cooked with it) and just using coconut oil, tallow, butter etc. reduces my anxiety to the point that it's barely noticeable.

The dopamine hypothesis is being heavily debated and revisited these days. Might be worth checking any assumptions against current research.

Because it makes the dopamine more effective.

Allergies are a thing. Why is it hard to believe that certain types of food affect people in specific ways?

I take it you were never in a psychiatric hospital with people urging you to get ECT?

I was. Hot baths don’t work, but that’s just me. Blanket recommendations are useless and harmful. It turns out I have a genetic issue causing my mood issues and diet is my treatment.