Omega-3 fish oils reduce heart disease, vitamin D and fish oils do not seem to affect cancer.

At the recent American Heart Association and Congress of Cardiology, two very important studies were presented. The first (VITAL) trial followed 26,000 people over five years, some had vitamin D, some had fish oils (1 g daily), some have both and some have none. They looked at the incidence of cancer, and also cardiovascular events which they described as heart attacks, strokes and heart deaths. The conclusion was that there was no significant benefit from either vitamin D or fish oils, however, when they looked at just heart disease (and removed stroke) there was a 30% reduction in heart attack and heart deaths. (Because this was not prespecified, and was called a subgroup analysis, people are saying this is a negative trial!)

At the same meeting, the REDUCIT trial was published, with 3 g of fish oils taken daily, and in the study there was a 25% reduction in heart attack, cardiac events and death. This was incredibly significant (p<00000005), even more so because many of these people were already on full medical management including statin drugs.

It is amazing how the profession does its best to ignore complementary treatments, but I don't think there is any doubt now that omega-3 fish oils, provided it is quality oil (mercury free and pure) and taken an adequate doses does make an enormous difference to people with heart disease, or more importantly people at risk of heart disease. It is such an easy and innocuous preventive treatment, particularly when compared with most of the drugs we have available.
I believe that everybody at risk of heart disease or with disease should be taking 3 g of omega-3 fish oils per day.

Fish oil supplements are fantastic for heart disease!

Fish oil supplements are fantastic for heart disease!

Recent publications have suggested that fish oil supplements in low doses make little difference to heart disease, and people have been advised not to take them. Note I discussed this in my blog three sections down.

However, this has been turned upside down in a recent huge study called the REDUCE-IT trial used 4 g of fish oils daily, in a double-blind randomised trial involving 8179 patients followed over 4.9 years. The results were incredible. All cardiovascular events (death, non-fatal heart attack, non-fatal stroke, need for angioplasty or bypass surgery or unstable angina with all reduced over 25%.
This result is incredible and better than anything claimed by the statin drugs.
It obviously shows that omega-3 fish oils are extremely effective in people at risk of heart disease, but you need to take enough, and it does need to be a quality product.
A smaller study performed in Japan (JELIS trial) using a slightly lower dose of 1.8 g daily achieved in 19% benefit.

So fish oils are very beneficial to people at risk who want to avoid heart disease, or who already have it., But you need to take enough, and I would personally recommend 2 g twice a day of a quality product. There are no significant side-effects, and we have no medicines that can compete with these results.

Fish oil and baby brain development

High fish consumption during pregnancy gives brain benefits to the child.

Yet another study showing the benefits of taking supplements during pregnancy. In the Spanish study 2000 mothers were questioned, and their babies were assessed at 14 months and 5 years. Click here
On average the women consumed about 500 g (3 servings) of seafood per week while pregnant, but for every additional 10 g per week above that amount the children's test scores improved up to about 600 g.   The improvement in brain development and neuropsychological testing was most evident at 5 years, and there was also a consistent reduction in autism.

This is a population with a fairly high fish intake, they did not separate between small and large fish.   The larger fish tend to have higher mercury levels. Even despite this, the babies benefited consistently.

The omega-3 oils found in fish are obviously very important for the foetus's brain development and studies like this make it mandatory for doctors and midwives to encourage pregnant women, especially in the 1st trimester, to eat plenty of omega-3 oils. At the same time the possibility of mercury toxicity causing damage to the developing fetus is a worry, and it is recommended that the larger fish with longer life spans which concentrate the mercury more in the tissues (shark, swordfish, giant mackerel, tuna) should be avoided.
However the safest way of making certain that the baby receives the omega-3 oil and zero mercury is to take a quality supplement which is guaranteed to be mercury free.

The fact that we can create a more intelligent, better adapted child with a lower risk of autism by simply taking a quality omega-3 supplement during pregnancy and eating regular fish meals is something that should be shared with all mothers and potential mothers.