What You Need to Know About Fish Oil and What Experts Say in the Latest Heart Health Research

In the world of health, few things are as common and confusing to swallow as advice about vitamins and supplements and whether they have any benefit.

Research published last month in the journal BMJ Medicine looked at the risk-vs.-benefit of fish oil on heart health, suggesting from a long-term study that consuming fish oil fish may always be easy. increase the risk of cardiovascular events, including atrial fibrillation and stroke, in people who did not have a high risk.

In those who already had heart disease, researchers found the benefit of taking fish oil supplements and how the disease progressed.

Fish oil supplements are probably the most common type of omega-3 supplement that people can get in bulk. They are often in capsule form, and people reach for them because some research has linked omega-3 intake to potential benefits for a variety of health problems, including rheumatoid arthritis, cognitive impairment, and other conditions. such as ADHD. More recently, omega-3 supplementation has been linked to reduced anger.

But the idea that fish oil supplementation may not benefit heart health for people in general “isn’t new, it’s just a new paper on the subject,” Dr. Andrew Freeman, a cardiologist with National Jewish Health in Denver, told CNET.

He added that over-the-counter fish oil supplements are different from the “highly purified” types of fish oil, including Lovaza and Vascepa, which people can get from their doctor with a prescription. of reducing triglycerides. (High triglycerides contribute to heart risk.)

Although it is far from the final word on the benefits and risks of omega-3 supplements (there were some limitations to this study, including the fact that people claimed to eat fish oil so this research don’t show values), raises questions and continues to conflict with general supplement recommendations, such as the fact that they are not regulated for safety or efficacy by the US Food and Drug Administration, and the fact that we are meant to get most of our nutrients from food and nutrition.

Alternative diets that focus more on plant-based foods full of healthy fats, lean proteins and other sources of dietary fish oil (including diets such as the Mediterranean diet) continue to be associated with and positive health outcomes. Those foods may contain omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients, but it’s difficult to replicate those benefits in supplement form.

Another important caveat is that people take supplements (including omega-3s and fish oil) for a variety of reasons other than heart health, so advice on whether you should take them depends. about you, your diet and your life-changing health goals.

“There’s not a lot of evidence for omega-3 supplements in general,” Dr. Navya Mysore, a primary care physician based in New York, said in an email. If someone is interested in adding one of their methods for any health problem, he said, it’s a good idea to visit a doctor before “making up your own mind.”

Read more: Omega-3-Rich Diets Offer Many Benefits for Heart, Mind, and Good Health

What did the study find? Strengths and weaknesses

The BMJ Medicine study followed more than 400,000 participants, aged 40 to 69, enrolled in the UK Biobank study, tracking their health events and their self-reported lifestyle and diet. , including whether they regularly take fish oil supplements, their regular dietary intake and more.

After years of follow-up, researchers found that fish oil supplementation in people who already had heart disease was beneficial, but in general (i.e. those without heart disease), regular intake of fish oil was associated with an increased risk of the first episode. heart disease and stroke.

The strength of the study is that it is large and able to track cardiovascular events. The researchers also collected data on other factors that may affect heart health, such as smoking, alcohol consumption and diet. However, “it did not take into account behavioral changes in people with different cardiovascular profiles,” the researchers wrote. It also cannot account for all the health-related processes that can affect a person’s health choices, which are notoriously tricky to isolate and assign to a single cause or effect.

Also, most of the participants in this study were white, the researchers noted, so whether the same link can be drawn to people of other races is unknown from this study alone. Most importantly, it did not account for the amount of fish oil people took or the specific types or brands.

Should people base their decisions on this study? Maybe not

The latest research should not make you panic and feel that omega-3 or fish oil pills are heart problems in a bottle; As the study’s authors noted, more research is needed on the link between cardiovascular events and fish oil, and it comes on the heels of ongoing research into the full, complex relationship between omega-3s. and various health benefits when they come in supplement form. At least for the general population, much of it has been controversial or inconclusive.

This study alone is not enough to definitively change the debate about the benefits of fish oil, according to Dr. Gregory Katz, a cardiologist at NYU Langone.

“To change clinical practice, only a randomized trial allows you to see cause and effect,” Katz said in an email. “A study like this doesn’t tell you whether fish oil caused the abnormal heartbeat.”

But, he said, “There has been a signal in some of the clinical trials on high-dose omega-3 supplements — that there may be an increased risk of irregular heartbeats.” called atrial fibrillation,” which increases the risk of stroke.

When asked whether vegetarian or vegan omega-3 supplements would be better – those from ALA instead of DHA and EPA, the evidence is also murky, since ALA is “the body’s precursor to DHA and EPA, which are the ones that work. omega-3s,” Katz said, adding that the way it’s converted to omega-3s doesn’t work as well and may not be “all good.”

So all of these circles back to the same advice: Get your omega-3s (and all other nutrients) from your diet whenever possible. If that is not possible, talk to your doctor about starting a food supplement or using additional vitamins. Because people may be interested in taking omega-3s for health reasons other than heart health, you should talk to someone who understands your health history so that you can weigh the risks and your benefits.

In the last major summer update in 2023, which looked at available studies on omega-3s and omega-3 supplements for a full spectrum of health conditions including heart disease, the National Institutes of Health The Healthy Fish Diet concluded that “eating fish and other types of seafood as part of a balanced diet promotes heart health, especially when seafood is eaten instead of junk food.” But the evidence for the heart-healthy protective benefits of supplements is strong in people with pre-existing disease.

The latest research makes more sense for supplements, however.

“Not everyone is the same,” Freeman said of the latest fish oil research. “Not all drugs are the same, and what may appear to be dangerous may not always be.”