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How much does DHA help your cognitive function?

Docosahexaenoic Acid -- a particular type of Omega-3 "fish oil".

Some information suggests that 600 mg per day for 6 months will help your brain function as if it were three years younger.

Do you have firsthand experience with this supplement? A knowledgeable friend revealed to me that he'd been taking it for ten years.

I wish I had taken my mother's interest in Omega-3 more seriously.
 
I eat more canned fish than the average American, and have done so for years. I feel no different, and subjectively, I can't keep track of things the way I used to. Words don't come as easily as they used to, I forget what I wanted to look up in the 30 second trip to the computer, and complicated construction jobs I could keep track of in my head, I forget the details of, and have to look at the prints.

There's no A/B testing, so maybe it would be worse if I didn't eat a lot of fish. Maybe not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
DHA isn't formulated to penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
If you yearn for any other fatty-acids designed to boost brain function, I would seek out phosphatidylserine, citicoline, and choline/inositol blend. Phosphatidylserine aids memory. Citicoline generally boosts blood flow to the brain. They do make a good combo.
 
DHA isn't formulated to penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
If you yearn for any other fatty-acids designed to boost brain function, I would seek out phosphatidylserine, citicoline, and choline/inositol blend. Phosphatidylserine aids memory. Citicoline generally boosts blood flow to the brain. They do make a good combo.
And so I have, after scrutinizing the Qunol advertisement on the TEE VEE. I and my PC physician opine that Prevagen is a placebo. But Qunol isn't Prevagen, and it contains at least some of the substances you mention.
 
I eat more canned fish than the average American, and have done so for years. I feel no different, and subjectively, I can't keep track of things the way I used to. Words don't come as easily as they used to, I forget what I wanted to look up in the 30 second trip to the computer, and complicated construction jobs I could keep track of in my head, I forget the details of, and have to look at the prints.

There's no A/B testing, so maybe it would be worse if I didn't eat a lot of fish. Maybe not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My Moms, whom I've memorialized in threads here around the time of her death in October 2023, had a chosen diet of a bear sow. She daily fed herself generous portions of red sockeye salmon, blueberries and various nuts. It almost seemed as though she was making a deliberate effort, for watching some PBS show about Grizzlies, but I can verify that I never caught her looking under rocks for moths to eat.

She apparently had anxieties about dementia and general cognitive decline. Two years after her passing, I'm still sorting through file boxes of computer printouts and other documents she saved during this current century. When she'd been diagnosed with "mild dementia" in 2012, she was collecting printouts on reducing chances of Alzheimers, while she discontinued her regular doctor appointments because she "didn't like what they were telling her." So one such article mentioned DHA or docosahexaenoic acid from Omega-3.

Since another health-conscious friend in New Mexico mentioned taking it for the last ten years @ 600 mg /day, I decided to add it to my pillboxes along with Qunol.

The fish which you habitually consume is healthy for a lot of reasons. That's why I regularly buy 3 lbs of catfish at the grocery so I can coat the filets in buttermilk and seasoning flour and them freeze them so they're all ready for the oven or the frypan -- the latter not so good because of the cooking oil. A little special treatment with a spray-can of PAM makes dry-frying just as good as the traditional fry pan. Of course, salmon is probably much better than catfish or sea-bass.

Today I visited a marvelous restaurant which has flourished in my town for many decades -- Joe's Italian Restaurant. We'd been comparing the menu with another place called Mamma MIa. Joe's has this "Pacifica" seafood linguine just loaded with jumbo shrimp, clam, crab and other stuff -- with a sauce that rivals my own -- something I had always thought was beyond supreme.

But you can argue that shellfish -- seafood -- isn't fish in the proper sense of the word.

So with the carbs I consumed from the pasta and garlic cheese-bread, I must interrupt my communication here so I can take my 2-mile walk. I HOPE I can do two miles.
 
Ok, well.
For years I've been taking those items I mentioned. They are a big help. Not placebo. They won't stimulate, or change mood, or what have you. They just nourish the brain by boosting acetylcholine with specifically-formulated, brain-targeting fatty acids. Nourishing isn't going to create some noticeable altered state. If your brain is relatively healthy, I'm not surprised it's hard to detect the effects.

Not here to talk about DHA, just trying to advocate all the similar stuff I take on a regular basis.
 
Ok, well.
For years I've been taking those items I mentioned. They are a big help. Not placebo. They won't stimulate, or change mood, or what have you. They just nourish the brain by boosting acetylcholine with specifically-formulated, brain-targeting fatty acids. Nourishing isn't going to create some noticeable altered state. If your brain is relatively healthy, I'm not surprised it's hard to detect the effects.

Not here to talk about DHA, just trying to advocate all the similar stuff I take on a regular basis.
Here and there I worry about short-term memory. I worry about any symptoms of any sort of decline. Right now, I'm pleased that my eyesight seems great, when other times I've had to squint here and there reading print on my computer monitor. Breathing, joints, muscles feel pretty good today. Bladder and wiener seem to be working properly with the urination and frequency.

One of our friends here has told me I should lose weight with more drastic discipline. I have to wait until next week before I go to the grocery, but I have plenty here that I can prepare -- push comes to shove, lots of oatmeal, veggy burgers, hamburger, chicken, fish. Tonight I may make chicken salad for sandwiches to make over the next couple days. I may have to drink water when I run out of zero-sugar soda, but I've got plenty of V8 juice and V8 beet+ginger+lemon juice. [You can see over at "Garage" that I'm waiting to get my car back from the repair shop, and if I didn't say it there, I'm not getting as much cooperation from my cousin and housemate about trips to the grocery.]

On the symptoms of general aging including slow memory, I'm trying to avoid worry about it. Worry causes stress, stress is not good. An end to all of it, I say!
 
I have been adding DHA to my diet in the form of fish oil for several months now, and I notice that I can concentrate better at work and process information faster. Of course, this is subjective, but it seems that my memory has improved slightly.
 
I have been adding DHA to my diet in the form of fish oil for several months now, and I notice that I can concentrate better at work and process information faster. Of course, this is subjective, but it seems that my memory has improved slightly.
I also thought -- perceived in some way -- that my thoughts were sharper and memory was better after a couple weeks of the DHA and Qunol Focus. But a person might imagine just as much from a totally ineffective placebo.
 
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