BMJ  2006;332:915 (15 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7546.915-a

Letter

Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats

A few thoughts on systematic review

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Hooper et al's conclusions that omega 3 fats have no effect on total mortality, combined cardiovascular events, or cancer are somewhat misleading.¹

Firstly, their null findings could be partly explained by the use of the composite end points. They ignore strong biological evidence for the potentially disease specific effects of omega 3 fat. The underlying hypotheses for this study are not clearly stated for the main analyses. Systematic reviews have been published of the effect on mortality from coronary heart disease of long chain omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in randomised controlled trials and fish in prospective cohort studies.^{2 3}

Secondly, the authors focus primarily on the summary estimates from heterogeneous studies.

Thirdly, Hooper et al exclude 108 potential cohorts that have no omega 3 assessment. Dietary intake of long chain omega 3 fatty acids assessed by dietary instruments is more likely to be a surrogate marker of fish . . . [Full text of this article]

Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 680 North Lake Shore Drive, Suite 1102, Chicago, IL 60611, USA kahe@northwestern.edu

Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 900 Commonwealth Avenue East, Boston, MA 02215, USA

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Relevant Article

Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review

Lee Hooper, Rachel L Thompson, Roger A Harrison, Carolyn D Summerbell, Andy R Ness, Helen J Moore, Helen V Worthington, Paul N Durrington, Julian P T Higgins, Nigel E Capps, Rudolph A Riemersma, Shah B J Ebrahim, and George Davey Smith
BMJ 2006 332: 752-760. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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• von Schacky, C., Harris, W. S. (2007). Cardiovascular benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. Cardiovasc Res 73: 310-315 [Abstract] [Full text]  

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