5 ms·
Studies like this always seem to cite stats in a way that's pretty inaccessible to me. This is more clear to me: * 217,122 participants whose data was extracte
by djoldman 8mo ago
Studies like this always seem to cite stats in a way that's pretty inaccessible to me. This is more clear to me:
* 217,122 participants whose data was extracted from the UK biobank database
* Out of those 217,122, 325 got early onset dementia over an average of 8.3 years
* The vast percentage of data came from exactly one blood draw per person between 2006 and 2010 at the beginning of the biobank study
Omega-3 Blood | Hazard Risk | Rate of Incidence | Percent Incidence
Level Quintiles | | Over 8.3 Years | Over 8.3 Years
-------------------|------------------|--------------------|------------------
Q1 (Lowest 20%) | 1.0 | 193 in 100,000 | 0.193%
Q4 (High) | 0.62 | 120 in 100,000 | 0.120%
Q5 (Highest 20%) | 0.60 | 116 in 100,000 | 0.116%
- getnormality 8mo agoThis could significantly underestimate the real impact. A single point measurement is perhaps a pretty noisy measure of long term average. If we had lifetime averages, the quintiles would be more purely differentiated by the variable of interest, and the risk would be as well.
- kingkawn 8mo agoOr overestimate?
- tfirst 8mo agoHolding all else equal, noisier estimates bias us towards the null. This is attenuation bias. However, the estimates are still probably overestimated. Confounding, p-hacking, publication bias, all move us towards larger estimates.
- kingkawn 8mo ago“Still probably” is classic statistical science
- MichaelDickens 8mo agoI would think that, by default, noise would not have a bias? Adding noise doesn't change the mean, it just increases the variance, right?
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- tfirst 8mo agoThe most interesting finding is that the non-DHA effect is much stronger than the DHA effect. This doesn't align with the mechanistic explanation. Either this this is a novel and interesting result, or it's more evidence that we're just measuring wealth and health consciousness. Observational studies like these are useful for guiding future research, but, on their own, they're essentially useless for informing lifestyle changes.
- mobilejdral 8mo agoThe non-DHA omega-3 EPA are good at preventing perivascular fibrosis and thus a better glymphatic system for the removal of beta-amyloid proteins. EPA also helps produce melatonin which kick off sleep and this whole process. Natto-serrazime is probably an excellent complement as it is on the other side and is a dissolver. (Noteworthy: Pterostilbene + Glucosamine similar to EPA reduces fibrosis) The interesting connection is how this is needed when we are older, but not younger. When younger ERa activates more which does this all on its own. This is the connection to why 2/3 of alzheimer's are post-menopausal women and why HRT is important. Edit: and to tie this to APOE as it is the gene most associated with Alzheimer's. e4/e4 requires more choline so someone with e4/e4 is more likely to be choline deficient. EPA/DHA usually attach to Phosphatidylcholine (PC) when in the blood/brain. PEMT is a gene controlled by ERa to make choline, but from the above less ERa activation and we make less PEMT so less choline and less PC. Choline is the precursor to Acetylcholine (primary neurotransmitter for memory and focus and essential for REM sleep). This is why Choline is known to help with Alzheimer's.
- incrediblylarge 8mo agoI did a job for some neuroscientists years ago and we found a very strong correlation between microplastics exposure and elevated acetylcholine in a very young sample. They all thought there should be no effect or the effect should be inverted because of oxidative stress. We never resolved the phenomenon though. From what I understand, Acetylcholine elevation in the lipidome is either neuroprotective or neutral. Is there any reason why microplastics exposure would tend to increase acetylcholine?
- morgengold 8mo agoSo you can reduce your dementia incidence risk from Q1 -> Q5 by a whopping 0.08%-points. But in media you surely will read about a 40% reduction. *edited: %-points instead of %
- KempyKolibri 8mo agoSure, because both are true (although that 0.08% is only over 8 years of known omega 3 consumption - as timescales increase the absolute risk moves towards the relative risk). That 0.08% reduction would mean approximately 28,000 fewer EOD cases - not to be sniffed at!
- AlecSchueler 8mo ago> That 0.08% reduction would mean approximately 28,000 fewer EOD cases - not to be sniffed at! What would it mean for salmon stocks and increased environmental damage?
- KempyKolibri 8mo agoDepending on where you source your omegas from, potentially zero impact! To be clear my preference would be to source n3s from algal supplements and, once food safety testing for humans is complete, n3s from GM rapeseed. In time I hope we end up with lab meat/plant-based meat alternatives that use these n3s so we can get the benefits of fish without the environmental and ethical concerns of getting n3s from fish.
- susiecambria 8mo agoIf from menhaden, there's a raging debate on the one hand about trout, the Chesapeake Bay (Maryland and Virginia), the ecology and environment more broadly, and the other hand a Canadian company based in a small rural county in Virginia (Omega Protein, which, BTW, does not provide year-round benefits to all of its employees which creates a drain on already super limited services and supports. Omega Protein is not alone in this.). I don't know enough about any of this to have an informed opinion, but I do understand that menhaden put Reedville, VA on the map.
- cyanydeez 8mo agoalso keep in mind, P hacking came about as a means to try to prove racial science.
- culi 8mo agoWhere'd you read that? Genuine question
- cyanydeez 8mo agohttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjhs-themes/article/history-of-science-through-the-prism-of-race/D041D3BDF1CAE769C11A2CED4694DD23 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjhs-themes/article/... Racists work really hard to crunch the numbers. Do you think its a new phenomenon?
- culi 8mo agoNo, I'm well aware of the eugenics origins of much the current field of statistics (and even the racial etymologies of terms like "regression to the mean"). In fact, I'd say most of our social sciences were originally primarily concerned with eugenics But the claim that the practice of p-hacking itself has such a specific history seems dubious and I don't quite see how your source backs that up—interesting though it is
- cyanydeez 8mo agoSure, they wouldnt tell you they invented p-hacking.
- casey2 8mo agoWhy are Q2 and Q3 missing. My guess is that they show a higher incident rate than Q1. Let me verify that, oh wait I can't. This article is pointless Besides there is so much noise here. You ate fish before going to the doctor to get your blood drawn in 2006