Supplements With Omega-3 Acids Do Not Protect Against Cancer And Heart Attack

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Supplements with omega-3 acids do not protect against cancer and heart attack

The results show that if 1,000 people took omega-3 supplements for about four years, 3 people would avoid death from cardiovascular disease, 6 people would avoid coronary heart disease (such as myocardial infarction), and 3 additional people would develop would be prostate cancer.

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Two related systematic reviews, which were published in the British Journal of Cancer and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, show that dietary supplements with omega-3 fatty acids have little effect on the likelihood of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

Scientists have found that supplements can slightly reduce the incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease, but slightly increase the risk of prostate cancer. Both beneficial and harmful effects were found to be small.

Omega-3 fatty acids are healthy and an essential component of the diet. They are found in nuts, seeds, and oily fish (such as salmon). Biologically active additives with these substances are widespread.

Increasing the content of omega-3 acids in the diet is widely promoted around the world. It is widely believed that this will protect or even reverse cancer, myocardial infarction and stroke.

The review authors reviewed 47 studies in adults without cancer, or at increased risk of cancer, or previously diagnosed with cancer, as well as 86 studies with confirmed cardiovascular events or death.

Scientists analyzed randomized controlled trials (more than 100,000 participants in total) that lasted at least a year. They compared the increased intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) with regular or decreased intake.

The results show that if 1,000 people took omega-3 supplements for about four years, 3 people would avoid death from cardiovascular disease, 6 people would avoid coronary heart disease (such as myocardial infarction), and 3 additional people would develop would be prostate cancer.

“The evidence for omega-3s comes primarily from studies of fish oil supplementation, so the health effects of eating oily fish, a rich source of long-chain omega-3s, are unclear. Fatty fish is very nutritious in a balanced diet, high in protein and in important micronutrients such as selenium, iodine, vitamin D and calcium - far more than a source of omega-3s,”said lead author of both studies, Lee Hooper. Hooper from the University of East Anglia.