Is It Time to Give Up on Fish Oil? - The New York Times

Is It Time to Give Up on Fish Oil? - The New York Times
"...I now suspect that those thousands of gel-covered capsules I’ve swallowed over the years may have done little more than enrich the pockets of supplement producers and sellers.
A number of extensive analyses have been conducted, some supporting and others refuting the value of fish oils to the cardiovascular system, along with studies of other purported health benefits that also have had mixed results.
...Enthusiasm for fish oils originated with reports decades ago that Eskimos, who consume lots of cold water fish, have surprisingly low rates of heart disease despite a diet very high in animal fat.
...“This idea has since been pretty discredited; we really don’t know if the Eskimos got heart disease or not,” said Malden C. Nesheim, emeritus professor of nutrition at Cornell University, who chaired an Institute of Medicine committee assessing the risks and benefits of seafood in the early 2000s.
...The question is whether the observed cardiovascular benefits often found among fish eaters is due solely to the oils in fish or to some other characteristics of seafood or to still other factors common to those who eat lots of fish, like eating less meat or pursuing a healthier lifestyle over all.
Whatever the answer, it does not seem to be fish oil supplements..."