Devil is in the Details on Fish Oil Research
Written By Summerside Chiropractic Clinic on December 19, 2016
For years my advice has been "On days you don't eat fish, take a fish oil". When it was reported in the media lately that fish oils don't help prevent heart disease I looked up the article immediately. It was not difficult to see the flaw on how the headline did not match the study and how the study was really missing the point on supplementing fish oil.
The 12,536 patients that were given a placebo or fish oil already had "advanced cardiovascular disease". The horse is already out of the barn! Too late to close the gate! The previous studies looked at preventing the disease not preventing death once you already have it. I was disappointed that it did not help those people already with advanced disease but I would not have expected a significant difference.
There is evidence that eating fish can prevent heart disease but there is still no evidence (to my knowledge) that says eating fish once you have heart disease can prevent death from heart disease. They mix this message in the article as well. So they conclude that you should eat fish to prevent heart disease but the oils don't work for preventing death from heart disease. So "eat fish instead" makes no sense because they are talking about two separate issues there. One is getting HD, the other is getting dead from HD.
My message remains, "On days you don't eat fish, take a fish oil". It still says eat fish. If for no other reason, when you eat fish you are displacing one less meal of red meat or antibiotic laden chicken. When I have a bison steak I will still pop a fish oil before bed to prevent heart disease and for the many other benefits I have read about for years but, as usual, eating the food that contains the good element is always better.
Warm Regards, Dr. Darrell
(November 8, 2012)
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Wellness
