Fish, fish, fish. That's just about all you hear these days. Eat more fish. Take your fish oil. Why? It's been associated with lower risk of heart disease, stroke & cognitive loss, among other chronic conditions. However, one of the proposed methods by which fish oil works is by inhibiting platelet function in some fashion, the idea being that less clotting allows for more blood flow.
Controlled bleeding also comes into play during surgeries and procedures. Your surgeon doesn't want you bleeding into his operating field. Yet you need to continue to perfuse your organs. Often times as part of our pre-operative evaluation, surgical candidates are advised to stop taking aspirin, vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, and even fish oil several days, if not weeks, prior to the proposed surgery date. The idea is to minimize one's risk of oozing.
Well, in a cohort study published this month of 1523 patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction, fish oil was not associated with an increase risk of bleeding as might be expected given the thrombolytic therapy administered. Importantly, red blood cell levels of fish oil demonstrated no correlation to bleeding events. The authors chose to measure fish oil level directly rather than assess reported consumption which is subject to recall bias and supplement manufacturing variance.
The good news for you & me is that we can and should continue to take our fish oil and eat our fish without worry for bleeding out. So go enjoy some fish for dinner tonight.
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I appreciate you providing the reference to the actual study(ies) in your posts. It allows us to get further insight into the particular research and details of the issues.
ReplyDeleteThe Tufts-New England Medical Center Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) looked at 148 studies where fish oils were used to see if anyone experienced side effects from fish oils.
ReplyDeleteThese studies included the following factors:
- About 100,000 subjects had taken fish oils in different forms and dosages (from 300 milligrams to 8 grams/day), for at least 1 week to more than 7 years.
- Most of the studies were small, with only a few dozen participants using the supplements for less than 6 months.
Researchers found that more than half of the studies (77) showed no side effects from fish oils.
Any reported fish oil side effects were mild; the most common side effect was gastrointestinal, such as diarrhea.
This was reported in fewer than 7% of the participants in all studies and may be contributed to taking too much fish oil
Researchers found there were no reports of serious events, such as death, life-threatening sickness, disabilities or handicaps from taking too much fish oil.
While fish oils may reduce your risk for blood clots, there is minimal evidence they will increase your risk for bleeding.
There were a few reported cases of clinical bleeding, but these patients were also taking blood-thinning medications, such as aspirin and warfarin.
The New England Medical Center EPC concluded any side effects from fish oils would be minor and it appears you can reduce your risk for fish oil side effects by lowering the dosage or to stop taking them.