Your Brain on Omega-3, Tantalizing Discovery!

A groundbreaking discovery is overturning everything we thought about omega-3 and brain health.

There's a missing link that explains why some studies show remarkable boosts in memory and cognition, while other times omega-3 doesn't seem to help at all.

This missing piece shows us a path forward for how we should use omega-3 to improve our brain performance. I'm going to walk us through the details and, by the end, explain how I take omega-3 to get the most benefits.

1. Understanding Omega-3: DHA and EPA

Omega-3 is made up of two important fats called DHA and EPA. DHA is like a building block for our brain. It helps make the walls of our brain cells soft and flexible. This is good because it lets brain cells talk to each other easily, which helps us think, learn, and remember things.

EPA is like a firefighter in our brain. Sometimes, tiny "fires," or inflammation, can happen in our brain, which isn't good. Chronic inflammation in the brain has been linked to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

So, based on how these fats work, there's very good reason to be excited about the potential that omega-3 can improve brain performance and reduce the chances of getting dementia.

2. Observational Studies and Their Findings

When we observe what happens in people, the results are pretty exciting. In the Framingham Offspring study, over a 7-year period, people with the highest levels of DHA in their blood had a 49% lower chance of getting dementia compared to people with the lowest levels. In other words, they could live an extra 4.7 years without dementia [1]. That's huge.

We also see that people with lower DHA levels have more buildup of sticky protein clumps called amyloids in their brains, whereas people with higher DHA levels tend to have healthier brain volumes [2].

But if we just look at one study and cherry-pick data, we can easily be led astray. Instead, if we look at a meta-analysis that combined 21 observational studies together, again we see that as dietary intake of DHA increases, the risks of developing dementia decrease [3].

3. The Need for Randomized Controlled Trials

All looks well so far, but here's where the conversation needs nuance. What I've just shared are called observational studies. This means they show us links between things, but not causation.

For example, when ice cream sales go up, so do the number of shark attacks. Does that mean that eating ice cream causes shark attacks? Of course not! Both ice cream sales and shark attacks increase during the summer because more people are at the beach and it's hot outside. So, while they happen at the same time, one doesn't cause the other.

So, to figure out if omega-3 really improves brain health, we need to look at what we call randomized controlled trials. This is where one group gets the omega-3 supplements, and the other group gets a pretend pill that doesn't do anything. Then we see how each group does. This way, we can find out if omega-3 really does have an effect on brain performance.

4. Conflicting Results in Omega-3 Research

Here is where the problems begin, and where a tantalizing discovery has been made. When we look at the randomized controlled trials, the results are mixed.

For example, in 2006, omega-3 supplements compared to the pretend pill did not improve brain performance [4].

Then, in 2010, another trial showed no benefit either [5].

But a 2019 study found something different. In this study, omega-3 supplements improved brain performance by 7.1% and reduced dementia symptoms by 22.3% [6].

So, how do we make sense of these mixed results, and how should we supplement with omega-3 to get these brain health improvements?

5. The Omega-3 and B-Vitamin Connection

Well, here's the tantalizing discovery that's been in the works for over a decade. Back in 2010, a big study called the VITACOG trial was done. In this study, people were split into two groups. One group got B vitamins (and bear with me because all of this relates back to omega-3), and the other group was given the pretend pill.

Over two years, the people taking B vitamins had 29.6% less brain shrinkage than the other group [7].

But here's the interesting point that relates to omega-3. In 2015, researchers looked at the VITACOG data again and found something fascinating. It turns out the benefits of B vitamins for brain health were only seen in people with high levels of omega-3 in their blood [8].

And get this, for people with high omega-3 levels, B vitamins didn't just reduce brain shrinkage by 29.6% [7]; they reduced it by a whopping 40% [8]!

But for people with low omega-3 levels, B vitamins didn't help at all [8].

6. Reanalyzing Past Studies: The Role of Homocysteine

While this is very exciting, it's just one study and one dataset. We need to look at more results to understand the full picture. Remember that study from 2006 where omega-3 supplements didn't help [4]? Well, in 2019, researchers took another look at the data.

Now, a marker for healthy B-vitamin levels is low homocysteine levels. When we look at the people with low homocysteine levels (meaning they have healthy B-vitamin levels), omega-3 supplements improved brain performance by 7.1% and reduced dementia symptoms by 22.3% [6].

But for people with low B-vitamin levels, omega-3 supplements didn't help at all.

So now, we have two different sets of data showing that omega-3 supplements seem to help the brain only if we have healthy levels of B vitamins.

7. Addressing Conflicting Studies

But before you rush out to buy omega-3 and B-vitamin supplements, we need to take a closer look at some other studies to make sure we get the doses right.

First, why do we need B vitamins to see the benefits of omega-3? The researchers from the 2019 study think that B vitamins help make something called phosphatidylcholine, which is needed to carry omega-3 into the brain. Once the omega-3 gets to the brain, that's when it can start to help [6].

But more work is needed before this can be said with any certainty [6]. It's important to acknowledge these unknowns. Medicine is not black and white. There's often a lot we still don't know.

To add to the confusion, we've looked at two datasets that suggest that B vitamins are needed for omega-3 to help the brain. But we cannot cherry-pick data; otherwise, we'll be led down the wrong path.

There are three notable studies that conflict with the two datasets we've gone through:

1. A 2010 study didn't show any benefits for omega-3 supplements on brain performance. However, this study is very difficult to interpret because neither the omega-3 group nor the pretend pill group showed any decline in brain function over two years [9].
2. The big AREDS2 study gave people omega-3 along with vitamins like C, E, and zinc, but not B vitamins. This study didn't find any brain benefits from omega-3, and they didn't measure B-vitamin levels, so we can't reanalyze the data [10].
3. Finally, in the LipiDiDiet study, which did use omega-3 and B vitamins, no clear benefit was found. However, the decline in brain function in both groups was much smaller than expected, making it hard to see if omega-3 and B vitamins helped [6].

I'm sharing these conflicting studies with you to add nuance to the conversation. In medicine, we have to deal with uncertainties. Some studies show a benefit from omega-3 supplements on brain health; others don't.

So, while there's a good chance B vitamins help omega-3 work better for the brain, we can't say it with 100% certainty just yet. We need more studies. It's better to admit the uncertainty than to cherry-pick data to fit a story.

8. Omega-3 Benefits in Healthy Individuals

The final piece of the puzzle that we need to talk about before I can bring it all together and discuss dosages of omega-3 and B vitamins is populations. All the studies I've mentioned so far were done in people who already had dementia or some kind of cognitive decline. But what about healthy people? Can omega-3 improve memory for them?

We're going to look at a meta-analysis that combined 25 different randomized controlled trials together. When we have a look at the graph, a shift to the right indicates a benefit from omega-3, and if the studies cross the center line, there's no effect. You can see it's a bit of a mess, but when the data is combined, the bottom diamond has fully shifted to the right, indicating a benefit from omega-3 supplements [11].

But while this is a "statistically significant" benefit, how big is the effect? Unfortunately, it's very small [11]. And it's possible that this small benefit is limited to people who don't eat fish.

Overall, while we still have some unanswered questions, it's likely that having healthy B-vitamin levels is needed to see the full brain benefits from omega-3.

9. Ensuring Healthy B-Vitamin Levels

But how can we make sure we have healthy levels of B vitamins? A healthy diet always comes first, with leafy green vegetables, beans, lentils, and fish - especially salmon - being great sources of B vitamins.

To make sure that I reach the recommended intake of all the B vitamins every single day, I wanted to use a low-dose supplement. I don't want to megadose.

So, I had two choices: I could take a B-vitamin complex or a multivitamin and mineral supplement. I decided to go with the multivitamin and mineral option. Why? Because of the COSMOS studies, which showed that taking a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement can improve cognition and memory [12].

But there was a problem. All of the multivitamin and mineral supplements I found had way too high doses, and that's not what I wanted. Plus, the forms of the vitamins and minerals weren't to my liking.

10. My Approach to Supplementation

That's why I created MicroVitamin. In version 5 of my formula, I increased the B-vitamin content from 50% to 75% of the recommended daily intake, based on the data I've shared with you in this post. And because B12 is harder to absorb, I made sure to dose that higher.

I also included TMG, not only for its effects on exercise performance but also because it lowers homocysteine levels, which we talked about earlier in the post.

Right now, I'm working hard on version 6 of the formula, and that should be ready in about 6 months. But just because I take this supplement doesn't mean you should. Everyone is different, so it's important to decide what works for you.

For omega-3, again I don't want to use high doses. Why? Because taking too much omega-3 has been linked to an increased risk of a heart rhythm problem called atrial fibrillation. And this condition can raise the risk of having a stroke [13].

That's why I stick to taking 1 gram of omega-3 a day, as a mixture of EPA and DHA. I do this not only for the potential brain benefits but also because the right dose of omega-3 can help protect the heart when dosed correctly [14].

11. Conclusion

In this post, we've covered the fascinating connection between omega-3, B vitamins, and brain health. While omega-3s have the potential to improve cognition, the research suggests that B vitamins may be necessary to unlock their full benefits. However, more studies are needed to confirm these findings.

There are also many other ways to protect your brain and reduce the risk of dementia. I go over all of those strategies this post here.

https://drstanfield.com/blogs/articles/breaking-reduce-dementia-risk-45-percent

References

1. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/12/2408
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27532692/
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523121356
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17030655/
5. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/186835
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30958356/
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2935890/
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523277655
9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20410089/
10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26305649/
11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31841161/
12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002916523663427?via%3Dihub
13. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2773120
14. https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(20)30985-X/fulltext