Fish Oil Follies

There’s been some controversy recently concerning supplemental fish oil. One medical doctor even claimed that taking fish oil can raise harmful blood cholesterol, which could lead to a heart attack. He may have misread the research. Fish oil has been shown to raise HDL, which is cholesterol, but the good kind. To clear the air, here’s a statement from Darius Mozaffarian, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of cardiology and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health: “The only dietary supplement consistently shown in randomized clinical trials to work against cardiac death is fish oil” [Prevention, February ’09]. IM