Fish oil supplements, promoted for decades to protect the heart, relieve inflammation and improve brain health, may actually increase the risk of developing heart disease in healthy people: “Benefits only in those with heart disease ”.
Fish oil capsules, one of the best-known omega-3 fatty acid supplements / Credit: Pixabay
Supplements they can do more harm than good when their intake is not linked to a nutritional deficiency or particular conditions. These products can indeed hide major pitfallsnot only because they could make us feel falsely protected from many diseases but also because of the negative effects associated with incorrect use.
In other words, supplements may not be completely harmless, as we tend to think, but may even cause damage to health, including cardiovascular health, as evidenced by a growing number of studies. Among these, there is research just published on British Medical Journalfrom which it emerges that fish oil supplementswhich have been promoted for decades to protect the heart, relieve inflammation and improve brain health, could increase – rather than decrease – the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in healthy people.
Fish oil supplements may increase the risk of stroke and arrhythmias in healthy people
Fish oil is a source of Omega-3 fatty acids and, as such, is used as a dietary supplement for heart health, because it can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering the level of triglycerides in the blood. However, these benefits have been observed only in those suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
There is a group of supplements that could increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks: study
“In healthy people, regular use of fish oil supplements is associated to a 13% increased risk of developing arrhythmias and a 5% increase in risk of having a stroke – explain the authors of the new research –. Conversely, supplementation may be beneficial in those with cardiovascular disease, in whom it is associated with a 15% reduction in progression from atrial fibrillation to heart attack and a 9% reduction in progression from heart failure to fatal outcome”.
To arrive at these results, the researchers examined data from the UK Biobankthe UK’s largest biomedical database, examining clinical information from 415,737 people without cardiovascular disease aged between 40 and 69, of whom about a third said they regularly used fish oil supplements.
Their health was monitored for almost 12 years, during which 18,367 participants developed atrial fibrillation, 22,636 had a heart attack/stroke or developed heart failure, and 22,140 died. Among those who had developed atrial fibrillation, the researchers found 3,085 cases of heart failure, 1,180 of stroke and 1,415 of heart attack.
Data analysis therefore showed that regular use of fish oil supplements may have played different roles in the progression of cardiovascular disease, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke in people with good cardiovascular health, and reducing the likelihood of disease progression and death in those who had developed cardiovascular disease.
“Our results suggest caution when using fish oil supplements for primary prevention due of uncertain cardiovascular benefits and adverse effects – the scholars added – . However, further studies are needed to determine whether potential confounding factors modify the effects of fish oil supplements as well as the precise mechanisms related to development and to the prognosis of cardiovascular disease events”.
