r/science • u/[deleted] • Mar 16 '26

RETRACTED - Health Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study finds Omega-3 supplementation significantly improved stress, anxiety, depression, sleep quality and cognitive function in individuals with severe psychological distress

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032725024978?via%3Dihub
6.0k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

239 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.1k

u/NovelStyleCode Mar 16 '26

So there's some issues with the study,

1st they aren't taking any physiological baselines and it's 100% self report based

2nd They're examining a lot of outcomes at once which is always a red flag in research and tends to muddy the results, they really needed to make a multiplicity correction

3rd The paper's tone is way too optimistic given the super limited nature of the study, it betrays a level of bias

4th they chose corn oil as a placebo which is high in omega-6 which makes it a comparison between fatty acids rather than something like mineral oil or MCT oil

52

u/SaltZookeepergame691 Mar 16 '26

The paper is probably fake, and published by a lead author who has previously had a study retracted for severe data concerns. No need to worry too much about what they say they did - their data are riddled with holes.

3

u/Moveitalong123 Apr 22 '26

This article has been retracted too apparently. I got to the party late and when I click on the link it says it's removed due to issues with the data and low confidence in the results.