For several years, Iāve been vegan basically other than bivalves, but I started taking actual fish oil supplements (anchovy-based) a few months ago.[1] I started taking actual fish oil, because:
I was more confident in the benefits of >50% EPA omega-3 supplements than I was in >50% DHA omega-3 supplements[2][3],
I couldnāt find cheap enough vegan supplements for which the omega-3 was >50% EPA (I used these for some time, but they are pretty expensive, because I was taking multiple per day) or cheap and practical bivalve sources that were consistently >50% EPA from omega-3 and had low omega-6,
I was concerned that EPA and DHA might compete, so that just taking more of an omega-3 supplement thatās >50% DHA might not help as much, although Iām very unsure about this, and
the effects on animals arenāt clearly worse (rather than better) than not eating them or eating alternatives (see my sequence, and this thread on this post.)
I just got Perplexity to do some related āDeep Researchā here. Its answer to the first prompt suggests competition isnāt much of a concern, while its answer to the second suggests that >50% EPA omega-3 supplements tend to be better for brain function than >50% DHA omega-3 supplements, but it depends on the brain functions youāre most interested in; higher DHA is recommended for memory and cognitive aging. Also, the usual warning about LLMs hallucinating or otherwise not being accurate.
Firth et al., 2019, figure 2 suggests >50% EPA supplements are effective in treating depression, and thereās not enough evidence to suggest >50% DHA supplements are effective in treating depression, despite multiple studies with many participants in total. However, I didnāt check doses.
Although studies of fish oil supplements, which contain both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and EPA, have failed to support claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes,[2][3][4] a recent multi-year study of Vascepa (ethyl eicosapentaenoate, the ethylester of the free fatty acid), a prescription drug containing only EPA, was shown to reduce heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death by 25% relative to a placebo in those with statin-resistant hypertriglyceridemia.[5][6]
For several years, Iāve been vegan basically other than bivalves, but I started taking actual fish oil supplements (anchovy-based) a few months ago.[1] I started taking actual fish oil, because:
I was more confident in the benefits of >50% EPA omega-3 supplements than I was in >50% DHA omega-3 supplements[2][3],
I couldnāt find cheap enough vegan supplements for which the omega-3 was >50% EPA (I used these for some time, but they are pretty expensive, because I was taking multiple per day) or cheap and practical bivalve sources that were consistently >50% EPA from omega-3 and had low omega-6,
I was concerned that EPA and DHA might compete, so that just taking more of an omega-3 supplement thatās >50% DHA might not help as much, although Iām very unsure about this, and
the effects on animals arenāt clearly worse (rather than better) than not eating them or eating alternatives (see my sequence, and this thread on this post.)
I just got Perplexity to do some related āDeep Researchā here. Its answer to the first prompt suggests competition isnāt much of a concern, while its answer to the second suggests that >50% EPA omega-3 supplements tend to be better for brain function than >50% DHA omega-3 supplements, but it depends on the brain functions youāre most interested in; higher DHA is recommended for memory and cognitive aging. Also, the usual warning about LLMs hallucinating or otherwise not being accurate.
I take 4 of these per day, for 1600 mg of EPA and 800mg of DHA per day.
Firth et al., 2019, figure 2 suggests >50% EPA supplements are effective in treating depression, and thereās not enough evidence to suggest >50% DHA supplements are effective in treating depression, despite multiple studies with many participants in total. However, I didnāt check doses.
From the Wikipedia page on EPA: