Although the benefits of fish oil supplementation are well known, real-life evidence on the effectiveness of fish oil supplements is limited. Recently, a population-based prospective evaluation on the associations of habitual fish oil supplementation with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality has been reported. The cohort from the UK Biobank included 427,678 men and women aged between 40 and 69 years old. 133,438 (31.2%) of the participants had reported habitual use of fish oil supplements at baseline. After a median of 9.0 years of follow-up, fish oil supplements were found to be associated with a 13% lower risk of death, a 16% lower risk of dying from CVDs, and a 7% lower risk of CVD events. Hence, habitual use of fish oil would likely provide marginal benefits against CVD events among the general population.

Keywords: fish oil supplementation / cardiovascular outcomes / all-cause mortality / population-based evaluation

Reference

Li ZH et al. BMJ. 2020; 368:m456.