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FISH OILS: No, they won't !
You may be among the many people who've stopped taking omega-3 fish oil supplements following scare stories in the world’s media. If so, you might like to reconsider – because you've been misinformed.
Even the impeccable BBC was running headlines such as ‘High dose vitamin E death warning’ following a new study that suggested fish oils had killed several people.
Unfortunately, when the media circus rolls out of town, the main participants are left to pick up the pieces. The first to raise his hand was Dr Lee Hooper, the lead researcher, who said he had been misquoted by the press. But too late, there was nobody left to listen.
Then the researcher of the original paper that gave Hooper the data concerning the deaths said Hooper had, in turn, misunderstood her paper. Again, it was a comment too late.
And doctors and therapists, who have countless case studies on the positive effects of omega-3, have written in to the British Medical Journal, the publication that published Hooper’s paper. Their comments have not been reported.
So how can it be that we have been so badly misinformed? Worse, why has nobody righted the wrongs that have appeared in the media? Dr Robert Verkerk, scientific director for the Alliance for Natural Health, has analyzed the process, and has come up with some disturbing conclusions.
Hooper’s findings were a shock because it was accepted by everyone – including governments – that long chain omega-3 lowers triglycerides and other risk factors in heart disease, and improves the immune system. Because of this, every health official has advised people to eat two to three servings of oily fish a week.
Hooper re-examined these conclusions by taking another look at 15 previously published papers. Of these, 13 had been positive. The two negative papers had been studies involving people with an existing heart problem, such as angina, or who had received a coronary heart bypass. Even with these studies, one reported an insignificant half-a-percent difference in the death rate between those taking omega-3 and those who weren't.
But the study that caught Hooper’s eye was one published in 2002, and which had tested an ALA (alpha-linolenic-acid)-enriched margarine on a group of heart patients. Nearly half the group were smokers, and 40 per cent of them had a family history of cardiovascular risk.
Despite these unpromising beginnings, the study was very positive, and discovered that not only did the ALA-margarine reduce deaths, but healthier diets, which included more fish, also lowered heart disease risk factors.
The study recorded four deaths during the time the researchers tracked the 266 participants. Three of the deaths were in the group that was eating the ALA-enriched margarine.
But, argues Dr Verkerk, the deaths may not be related to the margarine, especially as the participants were in a high-risk group anyway. Vegetable oils are not the best way to take your omega-3, anyway, he continues, and harmful trans fats in the margarine may have had a harmful effect.
So how could such a negative interpretation have been given to a series of highly positive papers? One member of Hooper’s research team has been paid speaker fees by Solvay, a company that markets Omacor, the world’s first prescription-only fish oil.
A coincidence? Dr Verkerk can't know. But at least you can start taking the supplements again, something you can do without a prescription.
(Sources: British Medical Journal, 2006; 332: 752-60; American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002; 75: 221-7; www.anhcampaign.org).
WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU READERS' BROADCAST - E-news broadcast. 250 - 20 April 2006
"WDDTY e-News" e-news@wddty.co.uk
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