A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that normal dietary amounts of omega-3 fatty acids especially from fish are sufficient for reducing the risk of heart disease, and additional supplementation is not likely to provide additional benefit.
These researchers studied more than 2,400 Norwegians being treated for heart disease, says ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross. They found based on dietary data collected that only patients who consume the lowest level of omega-3s had any beneficial effect from supplementing omega-3 intake, which would suggest that the fish oil supplements so popular right now are probably unnecessary for the large majority of Americans. The omega-3s available in food are plenty, and fish is very good for you anyway.
Sometimes people make the mistake of assuming that if something is healthy, more of it is always better, says ACSH s Jeff Stier. We see this with antioxidants, for example. Everybody wants more and more antioxidants in their food because they believe that if some is good, more must be better. But we also know that s not true of alcohol consumption which is only beneficial in moderation and in this case, omega-3s. There is a limit to how much is beneficial.
