HoldsUp

Daniel Amen

Dr. Daniel Amen is a researcher and author working in the field of neuroimaging and psychiatric health. His published research focuses primarily on using brain single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging to assess regional cerebral blood flow and neural connectivity. His work investigates functional brain imaging biomarkers across psychiatric and neurological conditions, including major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, cognitive disorders, and the effects of adverse childhood experiences.

60 claims checked on air: 7 context 2 contradicted 6 overstated 36 supported 9 unverified

What they said on air - overstated

8 citing their own research

0:18:54overstatedlowProven Strategies to Prevent Disease - with Dr. Daniel Amen

A study by Joseph Hibbeln at the NIH found that vegetarians experience a high incidence of depression due in part to low omega-3 fatty acids.

"Brand new study out yesterday from Joe Hibbeln from NIH: vegetarians have a high incidence of depression. And when he was writing about why, part of it was low omega-3 fatty acids." (said at 0:18:54)

A study led by Joseph R. Hibbeln analyzed data from 9,668 male partners of pregnant women in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and found that self-identified vegetarian men had higher depression scores and increased odds of significant depressive symptoms (adjusted OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.14–2.44) compared to non-vegetarians (PMID 28777971). However, stating that the study proved vegetarian diets cause depression due to low omega-3 fatty acids overstates the findings. The study was observational, meaning it could not prove causality, and the authors explicitly noted that reverse causation could not be ruled out. Furthermore, the abstract lists potential nutritional deficiency explanations such as cobalamin (vitamin B12) or iron rather than establishing omega-3 deficiency as the definitive cause.

0:25:40overstatedvery lowProven Strategies to Prevent Disease - with Dr. Daniel Amen

Curcumin combined with vitamin D decreases amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.

"It's also, when combined with vitamin D, been shown to decrease the plaques thought to be involved in Alzheimer's disease." (said at 0:25:40)

The claim is based on preliminary in vitro (cell culture) laboratory experiments rather than clinical trials in humans. In laboratory studies using macrophages isolated from Alzheimer's disease patients, combining 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 with curcuminoids enhanced the uptake (phagocytosis) and clearance of amyloid-beta in a subset of patient samples (termed Type I macrophages). However, there is no clinical trial evidence demonstrating that curcumin and vitamin D supplementation reduces brain amyloid plaque burden or improves clinical outcomes in Alzheimer's disease patients.

0:41:45overstatedlowProven Strategies to Prevent Disease - with Dr. Daniel Amen

Untreated depression doubles the risk of Alzheimer's disease in women and quadruples the risk in men.

"if you have untreated depression, in women it doubles your risk for Alzheimer's disease, in men it quadruples the risk." (said at 0:41:45)

The claim that untreated depression doubles Alzheimer's risk in women and quadruples it in men is overstated and contradicted by large pooled meta-analytic data. While observational studies have long established an association between late-life depressive symptoms and incident dementia or Alzheimer's disease (and some individual cohort studies, such as the PAQUID study, reported elevated dementia risk in men with proximal depressive symptoms but weaker associations in women), systematic multi-cohort investigations find no established, consistent 2-fold (women) versus 4-fold (men) dichotomy. In particular, a large individual-participant data meta-analysis from the COSMIC consortium (29,850 participants across 21 cohorts) found no discernible sex difference in the association between depression and dementia risk, showing that most major risk factors operate similarly in both sexes.

0:43:03overstatedvery lowProven Strategies to Prevent Disease - with Dr. Daniel Amen

Omega-3 fatty acids are equally effective as antidepressants in head-to-head comparisons for depression.

"Head-to-head against antidepressants, omega-3 fatty acids, equally effective for depression." (said at 0:43:03)

Direct head-to-head evidence comparing omega-3 fatty acids to standard antidepressants is extremely limited. A single small 8-week randomized trial of 60 outpatients (Jazayeri et al., 2008) observed similar reductions in depression scores between 1,000 mg/day of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 20 mg/day of fluoxetine. However, Cochrane systematic reviews evaluating omega-3 fatty acids for major depressive disorder identify only this single trial (40 evaluable participants) with very low-certainty evidence, concluding that evidence is insufficient to establish comparative equivalence. Furthermore, broader meta-analyses find that omega-3 fatty acids produce only a small, unlikely to be clinically meaningful benefit over placebo with substantial risk of bias.

0:44:36overstatedmoderateProven Strategies to Prevent Disease - with Dr. Daniel Amen

Two studies from the Netherlands found that putting children with ADHD on an elimination diet resulted in 70% losing their symptoms.

"So there's two studies from Holland. When they put ADHD kids on an elimination diet, 70% of them lost their symptoms." (said at 0:44:36)

Two Dutch randomized trials led by Pelsser and colleagues (a 2009 pilot trial and the 2011 INCA trial published in The Lancet) evaluated a supervised few-foods restricted elimination diet in children with ADHD. The 2009 trial reported that 70% (by teacher ratings) to 73% (by parent ratings) of children in the diet group were clinical responders, defined as a ≥50% decrease in ADHD symptom scores. The 2011 INCA trial similarly found substantial improvements (defined as ≥40% improvement on the ADHD Rating Scale) in about 64% of participants. Describing this as 70% 'losing their symptoms' is overstated, as the trials measured significant symptom score reductions rather than full symptom remission or cure.

0:49:44overstatedvery lowProven Strategies to Prevent Disease - with Dr. Daniel Amen

The geographic areas with the highest incidence of schizophrenia in the United States directly overlap with the highest incidence of Lyme disease.

"But if you look at a map of the United States and you look at the highest incidence of schizophrenia, it's going to show the Northeast, Michigan, and Illinois, and then the West Coast. And then if you overlay on the highest incidence of schizophrenia in the US the highest incidence of Lyme disease, they're exactly the same." (said at 0:49:44)

An ecological study published in 1994 examined US geographic patterns and observed that areas with higher reported schizophrenia rates (urbanized Northeastern, Northwestern, and Great Lakes states) showed a statistically significant regional correlation with the distribution of Lyme disease foci and Ixodid ticks. However, claiming the geographical maps are "exactly the same" overstates broad regional ecological correlations, which are prone to confounding (such as urbanization and diagnostic access) and do not establish an exact spatial match or individual-level causal link.

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