Everybody knows that omega 3 fatty acids are healthy. Almost everybody knows that saturated fats are bad and a lot of people know that most people have a deficiency in omega 3. Health is currently seen as more than the absence of disease, anti-aging is a term that is gaining popularity. Most of the $3+ billion spend by consumers on fish oils is used for general health or heart-protective functions. The fish oil industry jumped on the anti-aging bandwagon by making fish oil essential.
How Fish Oil Became Essential
From the 1950s the fisheries got a boost from the government. The government established the 1954 Saltonstall-Kennedy Act. This act promoted everything you can think of with regard to fish. Anything from studies about fins to the classification of fish colors. One segment of promoting was the benefits of consuming fish oils. As it was reported in the news at the time, the Saltonstall-Kennedy act allocated
“$170,000 to develop new uses for fishoil”
The fisheries went straight to work and tried everything, from insecticide to paint-varnish to the part of medicine to disintegrate. The experiments with cattle were less promising as many of the test animals died.
The Breakthrough
A landmark study from Scandinavia showed that Eskimo’s from Greenland had a low incidence of ischaemic heart disease compared to Danish control, the researchers proposed that the great quantities of marine food might contribute to this since Eskimo’s had most of the blood lipids lower (especially pre beta- lipoproteins)[1]. The same researchers published in 1978 that high levels of EPA might be a protective factor against thrombosis[2]. Despite many more studies showing that high fish oils fat in the blood was associated with many pathologies, the trend was set and the rest ignored.
One other logical observation that the researchers could have made, was the low omega 6 fatty acids in the blood. And the overall low degree of polyunsaturated fats in the blood, but this observation did not fit the narrative.
There have been more than 23000 studies on fish oils. Although touted as miracle health supplements, Omega 3 supplementation has a lesser-known side to them. The positive studies reporting on omega 3’s are numerous and scientific, and the consensus of the public and health care providers seem to be that there are no negative side effects of the omega 3 story, except for bad breath and an upset stomach. The truth, however, tells a different story. Read the whole story here
[1] Bang HO, Dyerberg J, Nielsen AB. Plasma lipid and lipoprotein pattern in Greenlandic west-coast Eskimos. Lancet 1971;1:1143–5
[2] Lancet. 1978 Jul 15;2(8081):117-9. Eicosapentaenoic acid and prevention of thrombosis and atherosclerosis? Dyerberg J, Bang HO, Stoffersen E, Moncada S, Vane JR.