Forget fish oil supplements

I used to take them myself, although I tend to gag on large pills and hated doing it. I was happy to learn from a number of reliable sources that fish oil supplements have no value for preventing heart disease. For example, according to the National Institutes of Health: “Omega-3s in supplement form have not been shown to protect against heart disease.” Former president of the AMA, Robert Eckel has also stated that nearly all studies regarding fish oil supplements show no benefit at all.

My most reliable resource on this topic is Dr. John Ioannidis, a brilliant guy at Stanford University of Medicine, whose specialty is uncovering flaws in published research and who long ago showed the worthlessness of fish oil supplements. He says "These claims do not easily die away."  Indeed, every year people in the US spend $1.2 billion a year on fish oil and similar supplements. You are probably among them. I say this because the use of fish oil supplements have quadrupled over the last five years and because almost one in five older adults now take them. “There’s a major disconnect,” says researcher Dr. Andrew Grey. “The sales are going up despite the progressive accumulation of trials that show no effect.”

What’s more, fish oil supplements are largely unregulated. Tests performed on 30 top-selling fish oil supplements for levels of omega-3 fatty acids found that six of those products contained levels of omega-3s that were, on average, 30 percent less than stated on their labels. Tests that looked for two particular omega-3’s (DHA and EPA), found that, on average, these fats were 14 percent less than listed on their packaging.  

Although fish oil supplements have not been shown to be harmful, they can cause bleeding if you take blood thinners such as Coumadin, or even aspirin.

Might as well save your money and avoid choking down those giant pills.

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