Fish oil may be good for you but it can be pricey (USA)

"Almost 800,000 people are expected to have their first heart attack this year. Along with traditional medicine such as statins, omega-3 oils found in fish have been shown to help prevent heart disease. Fish oil is sold as a dietary supplement, but now it comes as a prescription, too. Lovaza is one of the first supplements to be offered as a prescription. Lovaza has a concentrated amount of fish oil, so if you need to take a high dose to lower your triglycerides, you can do so by taking fewer pills, which is more convenient. Consumer Reports says Lovaza is expensive, costing roughly $160 a month. And even people with existing heart disease don't usually need the high dose it offers. The American Heart Association recommends one gram of omega-3s per day for people with existing heart disease. You can easily get that much from one or two capsules of a fish oil supplement"

Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men's risk of heart failure

Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men's risk of heart failure, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and reported in today's on-line issue of the European Heart Journal, the findings represent one of the largest studies to investigate the association. "Previous research has demonstrated that fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids help to combat risk factors for a range of heart-related conditions, such as lowering triglycerides (fats in the blood) reducing blood pressure, heart rate and heart rate variability," explains first author Emily Levitan, PhD, a research fellow in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Center at BIDMC. "Collectively, this may explain the association with the reduced risk of heart failure found in our study." - EurekAlert

Fish oil beats cholesterol drug in heart failure

"Adding fish oil to standard therapy for patients with heart failure was more helpful than adding a potent cholesterol drug, according to a study published in The Lancet. The fish oil reduced hospital admissions and death, while the cholesterol drug had no effect. There has been increasing interest in fish oil in the last few years. Another study found that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil decreased complications after a heart attack. It isn’t just fish in a pill that is likely to be helpful, fish on your dinner plate presumably has the same effect." - Examiner.com

Evidence of fish oil's benefit on health not conclusive

"Fish oil may be helpful in preventing deaths related to heart problems, but there is a lack of evidence that it provides a clear benefit in heart rhythm problems, according to a study. The authors of the study stressed the need for more funding for further studies on this neglected area of nutrient research. While heart attack survivors are recommended the consumption of oily fish at least two to four times a week, the authors of the current study insist that the evidence for the protective effect of fish oil supplements is based on one large trial from over 10 years ago. Posting their research paper on bmj.com, they underscored the fact that more recent trials had shown no beneficial effect of fish oil on patient outcomes" - medIndia