DEBUNKED! The Fishy Origins of the Fish Oil Craze

[doxydad]

A widely cited, foundational study does not say what people say it does.



To truly learn whether omega-3s guard heart health or not, we need research that goes a step further: large-scale, randomized trials. A couple of early omega-3 trials got positive results, but they lacked a placebo control group. (That is, there were no subjects swallowing sham pills instead of the real thing.) More recently, randomized and placebo-controlled studies didn’t find any benefit from fish oil. But these studies looked at patients who already had heart disease; they didn’t ask whether omega-3s help healthy people. And medications like statins or aspirin could have masked any positive effects of fish oil in these trials, Manson says. VITAL will follow more than 25,000 healthy people taking real or placebo pills over the course of five years. By 2018, there will be an answer.

Manson believes that answer could easily go either way. “The vast majority of researchers who really know this field believe the jury’s still out,” she says. Fish oil might be a cheap, effective way for people to protect their health. Or it might be a red herring.



http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/08/does_fish_oil_prevent_heart_disease_original_danish_eskimo_diet_study_was.html

[canoeist52]

1. The side-effects of fish oil are certainly more benign that those of statins.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Thanks for posting

K&R!

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. I read tht most fish oils are rancid by the time you take them.

Best to eat only wild caught salmon, I guess.

[GeorgeGist]

4. Debunked doesn't mean what you think it means ...

because

“The vast majority of researchers who really know this field believe the jury’s still out,”

[oberliner]

5. I hope they discover that vegetables are bad for you and white bread is healthy

That would be awesome.