I am an MD/PhD candidate, skincare innovator, and evidence-based health and biohacking enthusiast. I read research and post scientific content, join me on my journey!
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Fish Oil is useless and how you can get real benefits from Omega 3s. Evidence-based.
Here is a table of some of the studies I talked about in the “Fish Oil is Useless” video, and a few others
I am mostly interested in skin outcomes but there are many studies on omega-3 for different outcomes, so I would recommend looking up the literature for your desired effect to see what dose they used.
Also, not all statistically significant results are meaningful to your health. As a hypothetical example, a 2% decrease in pain might be a real effect but wouldn’t be worth the burden of taking pills to achieve it. Therefore you should try to read the paper to see if the outcome would be worth it for you.
Research papers are often behind paywalls. I don’t condone piracy, but Sci-Hub exists 👀
| Outcome | Daily dose (mg) | DOI (link) | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acne | 1000 EPA + 1000 DHA | ||
| (2000mg Om3 total) | 10.2340/00015555-1802 | ||
| Acne | 900 EPA + 600 DHA | doi: 10.1186/1476-511X-11-165 | only significant in severe acne group, lower dose than other trial |
| Dry skin | 6000mg total | doi: 10.15171/apb.2016.064 | In hemodialysis patients. Chronic kidney disease causes dry and itchy skin. |
| UV-protection | 3500 EPA + 500 DHA | ||
| (4000mg total) | DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.112.049494 | ||
| Atopic dermatitis | |||
| (eczema) | 5400mg DHA | 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2007.08430.x | |
| Atopic dermatitis | |||
| (eczema) | 4200mg EPA + 4200mg DHA | ||
| (8400mg Om3 total) | |||
| infusion | 10.1177/0148607102026003151 | ||
| Skin cancer in immunocompromised pts | 6182 EPA + 5107 DHA | ||
| (11289) | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healun.2018.09.009 | ||
| Psoriasis | 9000 EPA + 9000 DHA | ||
| (18,000mg total) | DOI: 10.1080/03009742.2017.1287304 | Don’t rec this dose, highly impractical and unknown long-term safety, just an example of the higher doses sometimes used in research | |
| Psoriasis | 2100 EPA + 2100 DHA | ||
| (4200mg total) | |||
| infusion | DOI: 10.1007/BF00184491 | ||
| Back pain | either 1200mg or 2400mg total | DOI: 10.1016/j.surneu.2005.10.023 | |
| Depression | 1000mg EPA + 150mg DHA | ||
| (1150mg total) | DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26749 | In women with moderate-to-severe depression. Some studies show benefits, others don’t. Depression is thought to have an inflammatory component. | |
| Triglycerides | 2000mg or 4000mg EPA | ||
| (Vacepa) | DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1812792 |
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