Omega-3 fatty acids

I've noticed that when I do not eat enough seafood, I start to feel depressed and do not sleep well. I've been stocking up on canned tuna, and going to the local sushi place regularly.

The problem does not seem to be my thyroid and iodized salt does not help, so I suspect the deficiency is omega-3 fatty acids.

Why am I so deficient in omega-3s? My guess is this has something to do with omega-3 fatty acids being needed by neutrophils and macrophages, and my neutrophil counts increase when I herx. I've been herxing a lot lately, because I've been killing borrelia with nucleoside analogues.

Besides eating a lot of fish, what can I do about this? I've seen mixed reviews of fish oil supplements, and I haven't tried any.

i dont know if we can be sure this due to deficiencies in omega 3's

but - most people do not get enough in their diet - in the USA 90% of the population do not consume adequate omega 3's - and that's according to FDA guidelines - which tend to be backward vs the latest science and biased towards processed foods due to massive lobbying by the processed food industry etc

and - to my knowledge there is little or no adverse effects from eating to much omega 3's - at least not until one gets to huge doses - so to my mind the risk vs return favours consuming more or supplementing

i would always seek to get essential nutrients from diet rather than supplements wherever possible.

seafood is the main source of bioavailable omega 3's - but actual content varies dramatically from fish to fish - with oily fish being much higher than other fish - so while all seafood contains some - it makes a big difference which fish you eat in terms of how much omega 3's they provide -

for example
a 90g serving of mackerel contains 4-5g of omega 3's - which is around 5 times the daily minimum RDA
whereas
a similar portion of white fish like cod, haddock or plaice contains around a tenth of that

the other side of the equation is that in terms of our overall health - it is not so much just a matter of how much omega 3's we consume - but rather the ratio of omega 3's to omega 6 fats in our diet - with most people in the USA ( and other western countries ) having a ratio of something higher than 1:20 - whereas health guidelines indicate something lower than 1:10 or 1:8 is more consistent with good health outcomes.

higher amounts of omega 6 actually increase oxidative stress - and oxidative stress uses up omega 3 fats - so you can see how with diet context is everything and omega 3 could be sub optimal even if one were to eat "sufficient" in terms of grams per day

regarding supplements - i think the oxidised fish oil scares are largely the results of marketing tactics by high end supplement manufacturers trying to justify their prices - i recall independent studies showing that real oxidation of fish oil supplements on the market was almost non-existent - so i wouldn't be afraid of using a supplement from a well known mainstream brand -

that said - getting 1-2grams of EPA and DHA a day from supplements can get pretty expensive - whereas a few portions of oily fish a week is actually an economical substitution in ones diet.

i hope its of some help

I got some Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega fish oil and it seems to work, although I had to take a bit more than the usual dose. Often I take two pills twice per day. I haven't been to the sushi place this week, and I seem to be doing okay.