Fish oil is now the third most widely used dietary supplement in the United States, after vitamins and minerals, according to a recent report from the National Institutes of Health. At least 10 percent of Americans take fish oil regularly, most believing that the omega-3 fatty acids in the supplements will protect their cardiovascular health. […]
From 2005 to 2012, at least two dozen rigorous studies of fish oil were published in leading medical journals, most of which looked at whether fish oil could prevent cardiovascular events in high-risk populations. These were people who had a history of heart disease or strong risk factors for it, like high cholesterol, hypertension or Type 2 diabetes.
All but two of these studies found that compared with a placebo, fish oil showed no benefit.
Don’t know about cardiovascular stuff but when we were kids our mother would force us to take a teaspoon of cod liver oil every morning. We did grow up healthy and our immune systems were very good. Might not do any good but I don’t think it’s harmful either-except to the cod.
When I was a little kid, my mom made me swallow a spoonful of evil-tasting cod liver oil every day. It’s a shame the fish oil deniers have won. Doesn’t anyone respect settled science anymore? I blame global warming.
Beefaholic and Mystery Meat, my mom did the same except not every morning.
Coated the spoon with molasses first. Now I don’t like molasses.
Fish oil works. Ever see a fish with squeaky wheels? I rest my case.
Yer just jealous because you live in a landlocked province. No fish for you.
Fish oil, snake oil… different names for different times. History is full cycles and the foolish will never go away.
Apart from suffering through cod-liver oil capsules as a kid, I have no comment on the health benefits. However, my dogs like fish oil capsules and they have nice smooth coats – and bad breath.
There is a difference. Cod liver oil contains vitamin D and is good for you. Fish oil of the Omega 3 variety has a health effect equal to a placebo.
I think I’ll agree with the remark in the article that fish oil is most likely to do you some good if you get it by eating the actual fish.
While fish oil may do little for high risk people, could it help people not so high risk?
My wife takes Omega 3 not for her heart but for her hair, skin and eyes.
Problem here is that fish oils are not sold as treatment for heart disease and hypertension. They -prevent- heart disease and hyper tension.
So if you’re looking at a population that already has heart disease to see if fish oil works…
Just sayin’ somebody might have an agenda, is all.
It’s been shown that they don’t seem to work in normal risk populations either.
http://junkscience.com/2013/07/10/claim-fish-oil-supplements-increase-prostate-cancer-risk/
Oat bran….olive oil…..
I wonder what the bleeding hearts would do if a similar study of whale oil found that it was a very important nutritional supplement? Or oil harvested from baby harp seals?
You can’t tell from the studies that were done. That’s the problem. Is there an increased cancer risk found because the fish oil encourages cancer… or is it that the people who use fish oil are generally in a lower health/higher risk subgroup than “normal” and are at higher cancer risk because of things that have nothing to do with fish oil?
We don’t know, because the studies don’t break that out. They just look at “user” sample population and “non-user” sample, mostly based on self reporting or telephone interviews. Owning a dog or wearing you hat backwards has been show to be both a health risk AND a health benefit using these types of designs.
The effects of fish oil, IF ANY, are at best subtle and can’t be discovered using self-report style study designs. You need a randomized controlled double blind trial with a large sample size and a looooong time baseline. Nobody is doing that. Because its expensive and because depending on their agenda they might not like what they find.
I’m not defending the effects of fish oil, I’m saying the science is mostly agenda driven crap, and you can’t make an intelligent decision based on crap. Coffee is a risk one week and a benefit the next, and this is why.