Question 244 of 433
Fish oil: yes or no?
The short answer
Eat fish twice a week. Take prescription-strength omega-3 if your triglycerides are high and your cardiologist advises it. Ordinary capsules for healthy people have shown little.
The trials conflict. One, using 4 grams a day of a purified prescription omega-3, cut heart events by 25 percent in high-risk patients with high triglycerides. Another, with a different formulation, found nothing. Trials of low doses in healthy people were mostly neutral. A 2025 analysis of a Swiss trial found that 1 gram a day slowed several epigenetic clocks by a few months over three years.
One caution from my own field: higher doses raise the risk of atrial fibrillation. More is not better.
“This book is for education. It is not medical advice, and reading it does not make you my patient or create a doctor-patient relationship.” From the book’s medical disclaimer. Full disclaimer
ROBUST for prescription icosapent ethyl in selected high-risk patients; little consistent primary-prevention benefit from ordinary fish-oil capsules.Evidence grade (draft mapping)ARobust human trialsPart 17, Q244 · Part sources
From Longevity Unmasked by Afshine Ash Emrani, MD, FACC. Medical disclaimer. This book is for education. It is not medical advice, and reading it does not make you my patient or create a doctor-patient relationship. Nothing here is meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Medicine is personal: a test, drug, supplement, or exercise plan that helps one person can harm another. Do not start, stop, or change any medication or treatment because of something you read in these pages. Talk with a licensed clinician who knows your history first. If you think you are having a medical emergency, call 911. The author disclaims responsibility for any loss or harm arising from use of the information in this book.