Are popular fish oil tablets just a load of old cod?
THEY are touted as the elixir of life – golden capsules that promise to protect us from heart attacks, lubricate aching joints and even ward off dementia.
Many adults take daily fish oil capsules, believing their omega-3 fatty acids are good for body and mind. Even more take them occasionally, meaning there is a jar tucked away in almost every home. Since 2004, sales have risen by 40%.
But now growing medical opinion and research has cast doubt on the efficacy of the pills.
Dr Michael Mosley, the doctor who devised the popular 5:2 Diet, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘None of the studies into fish oil supplements I have seen has left me convinced they make much difference. I have doubts about taking supplements in general, until proven otherwise, because food contains so many different components.
‘If you isolate one component and take it as a supplement, you are in danger of throwing out the baby with the bath water.’
Dr Mosley, who also works as a BBC presenter, now plans to work with his TV research team to test whether fish oil supplements, and fish itself, bring the benefits they are meant to.
They will recruit 60 people aged 35 and over for a 12-week study to see if fish or supplements help make the blood less likely to clot, improve mental alertness and reduce the risk of depression.
Dr Mosley said he believed eating fish itself would have by far the stronger effect. ‘It’s not that I don’t believe fish oil supplements have any effect, but I haven’t seen any evidence that convinces me they do,’ he said. ‘That’s why we want to do the study.’ A similar experiment on his BBC programme tested the Indian spice turmeric, which is now put into pill form and sold as a popular health supplement, thanks to its apparent ability to help the body fight cancer. But in a trial conducted for Dr Mosley’s TV show, Trust Me I’m A Doctor, by researchers at University College London, those volunteers who took turmeric pills experienced no such boost to their body’s cancer-fighting capabilities.
By contrast, those who took a teaspoon of turmeric powder daily – by mixing it into yogurt or a glass of warm milk – saw a cancer-fighting gene in their cells become more active.
Dr Mosley said: ‘Turmeric seems to work if you take it with fatty foods and if you cook with it, but not if you just take it in the form of a supplement.’ The results of the fish oil capsules study will be revealed on the BBC programme in 2017.
‘I’m not convinced they make much difference’