Fish Oil Supplements and Heart Disease

Alan Bell via Compfight

Since I've gone off the statin (Crestor) and now the Niacin (2g a day) I was supplementing with 1000mg of fish oil every day to do two things:

1. Try to get more Omega 3 (N-3) fatty acids in my diet - our current diets have a preponderance of Omega 6 (N-6) fatty acids in them, and the ratio of the two should be much closer than it is now. That's why all the encouragement to eat oily fish (salmon, sardines) twice a week.
2. Several previous studies had promoted N-3 as being protective to your heart - something where I need all the help I can get. I opted for fish oil capsules over some expensive pharmaceutical (Plavix, Crestor).

A recent study of 12,500 at-risk people (diagnosed diabetics, which have a high rate of cardiovascular events) called  n–3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Dysglycemia showed that there was a very, very small difference in ultimate outcomes (death) between patients receiving the N-3 and a placebo.


The study appears to be really well constructed (double-blind) - and factored out as many variables as possible. The full protocol for the five year study is here.


So now I'm in a quandary - there seems to be no statistical advantage to taking fish-oil supplements if you're a diabetic (I'm not a diabetic, but this is a really high risk group, so if you think an advantage would show up with someone, it would show up here).


The study really is quite interesting to read, and even if all you can handle are the conclusions they reach, there are several of them. But in the end, they wrapped it all up in one paragraph:

In conclusion, the administration of 1 g of n–3 fatty acids did not reduce the rate of death from cardiovascular causes or other outcomes during a period of 6 years in patients with dysglycemia and additional cardiovascular risk factors. Whether similar results would have been observed at higher doses is unknown. Furthermore, these findings may not be relevant to dietary recommendations to consume more fish, because dietary change not only increases the intake of foods containing n–3 fatty acids but is also associated with a reduction in the consumption of foods such as red meats, which may be harmful.21

So I think the best course of action for me (and for anyone, really) is to increase their consumption of oily fish, and ditch the supplements. Much like multivitamins, it turns into expensive pee!