A recent UK-based study1, conducted as part of BMJ Medicine, took into account that the ingestion of fish oil supplement might be both harmful and beneficial for heart health.
A cohort of 415,737 aged 40-69 years old was monitored for about 12 years. In the said study, it was found that the intake of fish oil supplements regularly carried a hazard in relation to a 13% higher chance of people developing atrial fibrillation, which is an abnormal heartbeat, and a 5% higher risk of stroke in people without previous heart disease.
On the other hand, it showed potential benefits in terms of a reduced risk of atrial fibrillation leading to a heart attack by 15% and a reduction of the risk of death by heart failure by 9% among patients with already existing cardiovascular conditions.
Points worth mentioning are: 130,365 or 31.5% of participants were on fish oil supplements. So, the net effect was a mixed one: it raised the risk in some incidents and potentially slowed the progression of existing cardiovascular diseases.
The risk of transition from a good health state to serious cardiovascular events was higher by 6% in women and those who never smoked, and for the risk of death, there were drops of 7% in men and 11% in the older group.
The detailed dosage and formulation of fish oil supplements and most of the participants being whites could not be determined by the authors for such effects, which does not allow for the generalization of the findings.
The authors call for further research to examine these effects in more detail and the mechanisms underlying such an association in cardiovascular health.
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REFERENCES:
- https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1045107 ↩︎
