Omega 3 supplements have 'little or no benefits for heart health'

Omega 3 supplements have little or no effect on the risk of heart disease, researchers report.Small amounts of omega 3 fats are essential for good health and can be naturally found in fatty fish such as salmon, as well as fish oils like cod liver oil. Increased consumption of omega 3 fats is widely promoted globally due to the common belief that it protects against heart disease, but academics from the University of East Anglia have now challenged that particular assertion. Combining the results of 79 randomised trials involving over 112,000 people, the researchers assessed the effects of consuming additional omega 3 fat, compared to usual or lower omega 3, on diseases concerning the heart and circulation. Accordingly, they found that increasing long-chain omega 3 provides little, if any, benefit in most studied outcomes. "We can be confident in the findings of this review which go against the popular belief that long-chain omega 3 supplements protect the heart," said lead author Dr. Lee Hooper. "This large systematic review included information from many thousands of people over long periods. Despite all this information, we don't see protective effects." In addition, the researchers found that omega 3 fats had little or no meaningful effect on the risk of death from any cause. They also found that taking more long-chain omega 3 fats, primarily through supplements, probably makes little or no difference to the risk of cardiovascular events, coronary heart deaths, coronary heart disease events, stroke or heart irregularities. However, long-chain omega 3 fats probably did reduce some blood fats, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol. "The review provides good evidence that taking long-chain omega 3 supplements does not benefit heart health or reduce our risk of stroke or death from any cause. The most trustworthy studies consistently showed little or no effect of long-chain omega 3 fats on cardiovascular health. On the other hand, while oily fish is a healthy food, it is unclear from the small number of trials whether eating more oily fish is protective of our hearts," added Dr. Hooper.