IFFO has endorsed its partner organisation GOED’s response to a Washington Post and subsequent articles, which call into question the health benefits of taking omega-3s.
IFFO echoed this response and clearly refuted the claims made by the Washington Post author Peter Whoriskey.
"There is already much confusion in the health industry over what is a balanced and healthy diet, but we believe that the science behind taking omega-3’s is clear."
According to GOED, ‘Every meta-analysis of human clinical trials published in the last 10 years on reducing cardiac (or coronary) death risk, maintaining healthy blood pressure and/or lowering triglycerides levels has consistently found a significant benefit to omega-3 consumption.’
It is important to note that most fish oil produced does not go into the supplements industry but is added to salmon (and other fish) feed to give it healthy properties. The health benefits of eating these fatty fish is also highly recognised, with the U.S. Government last year recommending increases for both pregnant woman and children. As with many therapeutants, it can be hard to prove both cause and effect and we are still learning every day about the role of omega-3’s, but there is a consistent scientific trend supporting their intake.
A study worth noting is ‘The DHA Oxford learning and behaviour confirmatory study’, by Oxford University, which investigated the effects of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on reading and behaviour in school children. GOED performed a search through the body of evidence published during 2005-2012. In a Pubmed search, they found 136 randomized, controlled trials on EPA and DHA in cardiovascular diseases. Of these, 105 papers (77% of the studies) found a benefit in either the primary or secondary endpoints. It is true that not all of these looked at hard outcomes like cardiovascular events, but they all looked at various markers or outcomes cardiovascular diseases. The data in raw form can be found here.
GOED's conclusion was that "From all these studies there have been no proven harmful effects of consuming omega-3 as part of a healthy diet, and with all the proven benefits people should not be deterred."
