Fish Oil Claims May be Snake Oil

C'mon. How can this be true?

Claims that fish oil supplements preserve cognition should not be swallowed hook, line, and sinker, researchers said.

In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of nearly 900 septuagenarians, the omega-3 fatty acid supplements had no effect on cognition, according to Alan Dangour, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues.

Over a two-year period, there was no difference in cognitive decline in either the fish oil or placebo arm of the study, the longest yet conducted, Dangour and colleagues said online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"There is no evidence of an important benefit for memory or concentration," Dangour said in a statement...

The findings come from the so-called OPAL study (for Older People And omega-3 Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids), which enrolled 876 healthy and cognitively sound people in Britain, ages 70 through 79.

They were randomized to get either an olive oil placebo or the combination of 200 milligrams of eicosapentaenoic acid and 500 milligrams of docosahexaenoic acid daily for two years.

Eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid are omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, commonly found in oily fish. They have been associated with cognitive benefits in observational studies, but there was no evidence of a positive effect in a recent six-month randomized trial, the researchers said.

"Current evidence of a benefit for cognitive health is not convincing," the researchers said.

Here is the problem.

The researchers did not test to see if the decline stopped when the subjects reached the cognitive level of a fish.

My bet is that the fish oil will work for that.

Clearly, more research is needed.

Adverse events were minor -- typically annoyances as flatulence, belching, abdominal discomfort, and loose stools -- and were not significantly different between the groups, the researchers found.

Preferably performed in a well-ventilated room.