High-Dose DHA May Lower AD Risk in E4 Carriers

[Thx4thegenes]

Oh, makes sense. I thought some were also saying it's best to quickly encapsulate it. Better chances of not spoiling. I've never had a problem with Nordic Naturals in liquid form.

[MAC]

Thanks for the nutrasource link, MAC. I just checked and my Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega ranks 5 out of 5.

I can't stand the taste of fish oil liquid. Tried it for one bottle (also Nordic Naturals) and couldn't even finish it. Bleh...

So I feel better about going back to the gel caps after reading the nutrasource report because the whole point of the liquid was to make sure it didn't taste rancid. Shouldn't be a problem if I keep getting the Ultimate Omega from a reputable source (Pharmaca, for me).

How bad is bleh? I eat anchovy slugs right from the bottle!

[SusanJ]

You probably won't have any problem.

[Thx4thegenes]

No problem at all! It's pretty mild. I get the lemon flavored.

[circular]

MAC, the top 3 Amazon brands were: Dr. Tobias Omega, Nature's Made and Nature's Bounty, the latter two are cheap, but I've never heard of the first one. Once I finish my Nordic Naturals, it might be time to switch to my mom's brand (Carlson). Thanks for all the references.

These may not be the brands captured by the report, but serve as good proxy for the mass market (ie low price) DHA/EPA supplement. NONE of these 3 Amazon brands has a 3rd party independent testing certification (as far as I could find) like IVO/IFOS. I'd be very leery and stay away from these brands if truly serious about your health.

Nature Made and Nature's Bounty were tested and approved by ConsumerLab (although I haven't compared the testing between them and the reports MAC linked to). ConsumerLab comments that while Nature's Bounty is in triglyceride form (preferable for absorption), Nature Made isn't clearly so but 'appears to be'. In addition to lab results, ConsumerLab provides quite good discussion of the research for supplements and their purported uses that I also find useful, and helps with identifying which products is not only approved but the best value.

[MAC]

From Consumer Labs, THIS is what they report on re Omega-3:

https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/fis ... ew/omega3/

"You must be a member to get the full test results for fish oil and other marine oil pills and liquid supplements along with ConsumerLab.com recommendations and quality ratings. You will get results for 29 supplements selected by ConsumerLab.com, 19 others that passed voluntary, quality certification testing, and information about one product similar to one which passed testing. (What exactly does this last statement mean?)

In this comprehensive report, you'll discover:

- Which fish oil and omega-3 and omega-7 supplements failed or passed testing and why. [MAC: and what exactly is this testing?]
-The latest information on benefits of fish oil and omega-3s and -7s, as well as what they cannot do.
-Direct comparisons (including amounts of EPA and DHA) and quality ratings for fish, krill, algal, calamari, green-lipped mussel, and sea buckthorn oil supplements -- including those for pregnant women, other adults, children, and pets.
-Which products provide the best value and which are most concentrated (so you can take fewer or smaller pills) including softgels, liquids, and enteric-coated pills.
-Differences in the forms of fish oil in each product: natural triglyceride, ethyl ester, re-esterified triglyceride, and phospholipid.
-The dose of the omega-3s (EPA and DHA) and omega-7s (palmitoleic acid) for specific uses -- and how much is too much.
- Side-effects and cautions with supplements made with fish oil, krill oil and other marine oils."

Only the 1st bullet re testing is really important. I am not a member, but I'd like to see an ACTUAL 3rd party of independent test showing the same testing standard as IVO/IFOS showing oxidation testing limits for peroxide (< 5) , p-anisidine (< 15), and total oxidation (< 25).

Do you have access Circular to verify? Why wouldn't a brand publish this if they had the results?

[Julie G]

A new mouse study suggests long term high dose DHA may prevent cognitive decline in E4 carriers.

Docosahexaenoic acid prevents cognitive deficits in human apolipoprotein E epsilon 4-targeted replacement mice.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28595105

Abstract
At a population level, dietary consumption of fish rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is associated with prevention of cognitive decline but this association is not clear in carriers of the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele (E4). Plasma and liver DHA concentrations show significant alterations in E4 carriers, in part corrected by DHA supplementation. However, whether DHA sufficiency in E4 carriers has consequences on cognition is unknown. Mice expressing human E4 or apolipoprotein E epsilon 3 allele (E3) were fed either a control diet or a diet containing DHA for 8 months and cognitive performance was tested using the object recognition test and the Barnes maze test. In E4 mice fed the control diet, impaired memory was detected and arachidonic acid concentrations were elevated in the hippocampus compared to E3 mice fed the control diet. DHA consumption prevented memory decline and restored arachidonic acid concentrations in the hippocampus of E4 mice. Our results suggest that long-term high-dose DHA intake may prevent cognitive decline in E4 carriers.