I have been supplementing on and off with fish oil since 2017, when a blood test (OmegaCheck) showed me at “low” risk, but only just about, and efforts to increase my fish consumption to more than one serving a week went nowhere.
Can’t compare the results to those from the previous test directly (different reference ranges etc), but, as before, there appeared to be room for improvement… So I switched from capsules to liquid fish oil, which let me increase the daily dose to 3g of Omega-3 per day without breaking the bank. Moreover, maybe absorption would be better?
Looks like I’m getting close to maxing out on the Omega-3s! In fact, the charts now seem to imply that you can overshoot…
One of the supposed benefits of Omega-3s is to keep triglyceride levels in check. My triglycerides have indeed fallen from 75 mg/dL in 2019 to 61 mg/dL now, but hard to know for sure how much credit the fish oil deserves.
Next
Reduce the daily dose to 1.5g, and retest in 6 months to see if levels continue to increase, plateau, or drop.
Looks like my Omega-3 levels did drop a bit, but are still in the “optimal” range (8-12%). Guess I’ll have to re-test again in 6 months to see if there is a further drop…
I don’t have a reliable long-term record of HRV, but my resting heart rate has been stable (except for a drop when I started doing HIIT sessions again).
THis is super interesting. I was tested via Boston Heart in 2015 and my Omega 3s were abysmal (flaming red) despite an anti-inflammatory diet, including things like walnuts and fish. Did you regularly drink caffeine (tea or coffee) during this time? After that 2015 result I did incorporate liquid fish oil (absolutely agree a bottle of liquid is the way to go), but I never retested. I have wondered, based on my 2015 results, if caffeine has a blocking effect or if my diet or corporate worked brain was just so depleted compared to my needs. I do equate heavy mental work with needing more omega 3s (from an NIH article I read too long ago to cite).
I myself have been using plant(algae)-based omega supplement. I didn’t take an actual level test but wrt general feeling it seems to do the trick, using t12n to track that (full disclosure: my own app).
It did two things, both unexpected. As a road cyclist I discovered that amount (1-2 T per day) had strong anti-inflammatory effects such that I could ride and no longer be sore the next day. Of course, I later was Dx’ed with a rheum. problem so would everyone feel so much better as I did? IDK. Second thing is that after a bit I just felt better. Head clearer. Level. Faster thinking. Challenges didn’t bother me. It made me realize we are so used to our normal as normal that we don’t really know what optimal health is until we feel better. An anti-inflammatory diet was like that, too. It increased even the ease of getting up out of a chair after sitting after a meal—Whereas previous I might notice others would jump up and I would notice my own reticence—which was confusing, as I’m highly active.
Also, as most people are probably depleted in Omega 3s, IDK that I would recommend using a daily quantification tool without saying, yes, capture the data, but neutrally. Then look at end of month 1, 2, 3 … and also evaluate against stress levels in general. The Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory, for example, for each week or month?
I like the ease of your tool. Personally I work to minimize my notice of tracking efforts.
Sorry one more thing. Did you consider in your app allowing a user to input their own topic? How_______ am I? (Happy, angry, frustrated, level, empathetic, flexible, bitter, relaxed)
Great in business to niche down and also to support your customer in having their ideal experience.
Omega seems to have many benefits so I was wondering how much of it did you actually feel.
From my own experience, I think that it does have an effect on my general feeling. I am trying to track it but my tracking sampling size without it is too small (I’m taking it regularly for long now and I don’t want to stop just to see if there’s a difference).
Of course, this is supported (the whole point of the app actually :)) You can setup your tracks to whatever you want, including the question, responses, and notification times. Experiments are completely customizable too of course. You’re welcome to check it out, I’d love to hear what you think.
One full year after reducing my fish oil intake from 2 to 1 tsp, my Omega-3 Index has dropped to just over 8%, which is still fine, but supposedly on the lower end of the “desirable” range. I’ll increase my fish oil intake slightly to ½ tbsp (= 1½ tsp = 2,340 mg/day = 16,380 mg/week), and maybe retest in a year or so.
I’m going to have to invest in this - I have tested various Omegas and tested the HDL/LDL indicators I was taking them fore, but not a test specificcally for Omega-3s.
I did notice after trying several different brands and types that absorption is a big issue. I found that some had larger side effects and made no difference, while others seemed to have a larger impact. I settled on the Iwi (https://iwilife.com) ones, which seemed to have much better absoption compared to others I tried.
OmegaQuant is an at-home blood spot test, while OmegaCheck requires a lab blood draw, which is less convenient – unless you are doing other blood tests anyway, which I guess I now usually am… Results should be strongly correlated, see https://jn.nutrition.org/article/S0022-3166(24)00164-0/fulltext, but I’ll probably stick with OmegaQuant to keep my measurements as comparable as possible.
Got my first test results back, and were low, so beginning supplemntation with ~2mg a day of AlmegaPL (which has EPA but no DHA) and will re-test in 8ish weeks.
I’ve been taking 2mg/day of AlmegaPL (Iwi Heart) for several months now, and went back and got re-tested (I know, it’s been awhile, things got busy )
My EPHA+DPA+DHA is now in the “green” range, though just barely (5.5). My DHA levels barely changed at all (which make sense, as I’m taking a non-DHA form), my EPA levels jumped from 0.4.to 1.5.
My biggest changes were in the areas of ARACHIDONIC ACID/EPA RATIO (measures inflammation levels), which dropped from 30 to 7.
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