A recent meta-analysis of 79 randomized
controlled trials following more than 100,000 participants added
to the growing corpus of non-findings. The study catalogued a
long list of heart conditions for which omega-3s appear to have
“little or no effect,” challenging the claimed benefit of the
supplement, that taking it promotes heart health.
The rise of omega-3
supplements began when a team of Danish scientists, intrigued by
reports of low rates of cardiac death among Inuit populations,
embarked on an expedition to Greenland. They drew blood samples
from local Inuit people and found far more omega-3 in their
blood than in the blood of those in the Danish control group.
Their hypothesis: Omega-3s are good for your heart.
The original claimed benefits for cardiac health were the first
to fall after large randomized controlled trials showed few
results. A 2012 meta-analysis came to the conclusion: “Overall,
omega-3 … supplementation was not associated with a lower risk
of all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, myocardial
infarction, or stroke based on relative and absolute measures of
association.”
Studies reported that
omega-3 supplements do not help depression, do not help young
children at risk for psychotic disorders, and do not improve the
memories of the elderly.
Finally, during 2017,
the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s, a trade
association, published a press release of its own study “Among
randomized controlled trials, there was a non-statistically
significant reduction in coronary heart disease risk with
EPA+DHA provision.” Bottom line, save your money.