The September 12, 2012 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association included an analysis by researchers from Greece addressing the benefits of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Their conclusion, that fish oils do not offer significant cardiovascular health benefits, flies in the face of results from numerous individual controlled studies.
The findings are complicated by the nature of such reviews, where studies being assessed commonly use different methods across different populations to measure at least slightly different outcomes. Only rarely can clinically useful direction be taken with confidence from this type of analysis; however, the need for additional study is clear.
I hold to my longstanding recommendation to consume two to three servings of cold-water fish per week.

-- With Marti Lotman

Andrew Weil, M.D., is Founder and Director, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Arizona, and Director of Integrative Health and Healing, Miraval Resort. He is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, which combines conventional medicine with alternative approaches. He received his medical degree from Harvard University. His new book is True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure.