The report states that at least one in 10 Americans takes a regular dose of fish oil, believing that the components in the supplement – particularly the omega-3 fatty acids – will help guard against heart attacks and strokes.
It would be marvelous if that were true. It’s long been the American dream to have a pill that would perform miracles, whether for weight loss, increasing intelligence or overall better health. Unfortunately, in the case of fish oil, there have been numerous studies that have shown it does not have an impact on cardiovascular health. In fact, there is no evidence – repeat, no evidence – that fish oil does anything to help your heart health or blood pressure.
At least two dozen studies have been undertaken to determine the benefits of fish oil, with the findings reported in some of the world’s top medical journals. They asked the same question you would when taking the supplements – will a daily dose help prevent heart attacks and strokes? Could it help people who already had a history of heart disease or had strong risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or Type 2 diabetes?
They compared control groups taking fish oil supplements with people taking placebos. They discovered that there was no benefit to the fish oil group.
Perhaps because the average citizen does not read peer-reviewed medical journals, and more likely because consumers are assaulted by a relentless wave of marketing hype, fish oil sales actually doubled between 2005 to 2012 when those studies were published.
It may have been skepticism on the part of the public. There are good reasons why fish oil might have been effective in stopping heart attacks or strokes. The supplements typically featured two omega-3 fatty acids that act in the manner of aspirin, thinning the blood and reducing inflammation, two key factors in developing heart disease. The Food and Drug Administration also played a role, approving three medicines that could be used by doctors to treat high triglycerides, a key factor in heart problems.
But perhaps something deeper was at work. We live in an age where highly processed foods and highly stimulating marketing are pushing more and more Americans into bad health. That combination has caused some people to look backward, seeking answers in the ancient ways of their ancestors. In fact, the whole fish oil cult of belief actually started that way.
The Eskimo Diet
Danish researchers Hans Olaf Bang and Jorn Dyerberg were the godfathers of the fish oil movement. In the 1970s, they spent time studying the Inuit population of the Arctic Circle in a town called Uummannaq. The total population was 1,350, living a largely hunter/gatherer existence based on fishing and hunting.
During their research, the clinical chemists examined 130 Inuit blood samples, discovering that they had low levels of cholesterol and triglycerides – and high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. This, they concluded, was the result of the local habit of dining largely on the oily, cold-water fish in the surrounding region, including whales and seals.
Unfortunately, the clinical chemists never tested the Inuit for heart disease. Instead, they insisted that the omega-3 fatty acids in their diet were somehow preventing the development of heart disease in the population.
There’s just one problem with the research – no one ever really discovered how the Inuits eventually died. In the remote regions studies, doctors and any sort of medical attention were few and far between, requiring a trip to a larger town if trouble developed. When a local person died, many times their death certificate was filled out by a local bureaucrat, who was not medically attuned to the need of filling out the cause of death. Because many heart attacks kill instantly, the resulting shroud pulled over the population left a wide gap in cause and relation.
Bang and Dyerberg relied on the death certificates and hospital admissions of the Greenland chief medical officer to reach their conclusion. They noted that only a few heart disease cases occurred in Uummannaq.
Subsequent studies that took a more rigorous research approach, including one that rounded up all the studies of Inuit heart health in the United States, Greenland and Canada, concluded that the population suffered just as much heart disease as other populations.
Communication Breakdown
Despite those missteps, the Bang and Dyerberg conclusions took on a life of their own, being cited in numerous subsequent studies by researchers too lazy to question the results. As a result, the idea that omega-3 fatty acids were the Holy Grail in preventing heart attacks and strokes took hold, to the point where highly respected medical publications began repeating the dubious Bang and Dyerberg findings in their own reports.
Of course, people will believe what they want to hear, and as a result, the fact that the New England Journal of Medicine did a clinical trial of 12,000 that found no connection between fish oil and heart attack preventive medicine counted for little. Marketers and manufacturers, all with a relentless profit motive, shouted down the more august scholars, and people who had grown to distrust government and big institutions over the years began to tune out the scientists and tune in to the medicine show purveyors.
That leads us to today, where fish oil is still widely popular and consumed by millions of people. In a world where statins, blood thinners and other modern medicines are widely used, fish oil may even prove to be a danger. Taking aspirin and fish oil can thin the blood to dangerous levels.
There is good news related to fish oil. If you follow a Mediterranean-style diet, in which you eat more fish, vegetables, fruit and whole grains, your heart health likely will improve. That ultimately may be the biggest benefit of fish oils in your diet.