Is omega-3 good for runners?

The runner's first two notes, the audit and the trots

Is omega-3 good for runners is answered yes by the oily-fish audit, like anyone, and then by four notes that are the runner's own, two about the plate and the stomach and two about the knees and the heart. The audit: a runner who eats fewer than the two fish portions a week UK advice sets, one of them oily, misses the 250mg of EPA and DHA a day that the register's heart-function claim needs and sits at a low omega-3 status, and a runner's plate, built on pasta, rice, oats, bagels and bananas for the carbohydrate a training week burns, often carries less oily fish than a lifter's, the fat being what a runner's diet trims, so a runner is a likely candidate for the softgel side of the audit, one standard softgel for the claim or three for the index, and a runner who eats mackerel and sardines twice a week takes none. The trots: a runner's stomach is the runner-specific note the other omega-3 pages only gesture at, because the runner's trots, the urgent gut of a long or hard run, are made worse by fat in the stomach before it, and a fasted softgel taken an hour before a run floats on an empty stomach and refluxes with every stride while any oil taken with a pre-run meal slows gastric emptying through the run, the gastric emptying literature's rule against fat before exercise applied to the one activity that jolts the stomach with every step, so the softgel never goes before a run and goes with the post-run meal, which is reliably eaten, or with dinner, and a runner who has taken fish oil before a long run and regretted it at mile eight has met the mechanism.

The runner's third and fourth notes, the knees and the rhythm, the performance file, and the runner filed

The knees: a runner's joint pain is the four-joints page's three claimless joints, the loaded knee of a mileage jump that settles on a reduced week, the tendon at the Achilles or the patella that warms up and worsens and belongs to a physiotherapist's loading programme, and the wear of a long running history that responds to strength work and a GP, with the one omega-3 joint file belonging to inflammatory arthritis at several grams for months and not to any of them, so a runner's knees get load management, a physiotherapist and strength work, and the softgel is taken for the plate rather than the joint. The rhythm: the runner-specific note that matters most and that no shelf mentions, since long-term endurance training is associated with a higher risk of atrial fibrillation in middle-aged men, the endurance athlete literature's consistent finding, a baseline that a runner with decades of miles carries into any decision about omega-3, and the outcome trials' dose-related atrial fibrillation signal at two to four grams a day adds to that baseline rather than replacing it, so a runner keeps to the standard rung, a softgel or three at a gram at most, and climbs to the two-, three- and four-gram rungs only with a cardiologist who knows their training history, with palpitations on a run or at rest going to a GP for an ECG and the fish oil mentioned. The performance file, for completeness: no consistent effect on running economy, endurance or race performance in the trials of omega-3 in trained runners, the performance reviews' null, and the modest reduction in perceived soreness in the review needs two to three grams over months and reaches neither a standard softgel nor a faster return of pace, so a runner's performance comes from training, carbohydrate, iron if a blood test says so, and sleep. The runner filed: yes by the audit that a carbohydrate-heavy plate often fails, never before a run for the trots, nothing for the knees, the standard rung only for the rhythm, and no performance effect, with the worked example being the runner's standard softgel with the post-run meal, one at 17p, £14.99 for 90.

The verdict, yes by the audit, never before a run, nothing for the knees, and the standard rung for the heart

Is omega-3 good for runners: yes by the oily-fish audit, a runner's carbohydrate-heavy plate often carrying too little oily fish to meet the 250mg heart claim so that a standard softgel fills it like anyone's, with four runner-specific notes, that a fasted softgel before a run floats and refluxes with every stride and any oil near a run slows the stomach so the softgel goes with the post-run or evening meal, that a runner's knees are load, tendon or wear with no omega-3 file, that a long endurance history raises atrial fibrillation risk and the high-dose omega-3 signal adds to it so a runner keeps to the standard rung without a cardiologist, and that no performance or running economy effect exists in the trials. The runner's standard softgel: Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil, one with the post-run meal, 180mg EPA and 120mg DHA, 90 for £14.99 at 17p a day.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Should runners take fish oil?

By the oily-fish audit: a runner who eats fewer than two fish portions a week with one oily, which a carbohydrate-heavy runner's plate often means, takes a standard softgel for the 250mg heart claim, and a runner who eats mackerel or sardines twice a week takes none, the mileage having nothing to do with it.

Can fish oil cause runner's trots?

It can make them worse: a fasted softgel before a run floats on an empty stomach and refluxes with every stride, and any oil taken with a pre-run meal slows gastric emptying through the run, so the softgel never goes before a run and goes with the post-run or evening meal.

Is fish oil good for runners' knees?

No: a runner's knee pain is a loaded joint from a mileage jump, a tendon at the Achilles or patella, or the wear of a long history, none of which has an omega-3 file, the one joint file belonging to inflammatory arthritis at several grams for months, so the knees get load management, a physiotherapist and strength work.

Is high-dose fish oil safe for endurance runners?

Not without a cardiologist: long-term endurance training is associated with a higher atrial fibrillation risk in middle-aged men, and the outcome trials' dose-related omega-3 signal at two to four grams a day adds to that baseline, so a runner keeps to the standard rung of a softgel or three and takes palpitations to a GP for an ECG.

Does omega-3 improve running performance?

No: the trials of omega-3 in trained runners find no consistent effect on running economy, endurance or race performance, and the modest soreness reduction in the review needs two to three grams over months without a faster return of pace, so performance comes from training, carbohydrate, iron if a blood test says so, and sleep.

Sources

1. The endurance athlete and atrial fibrillation literature: long-term endurance training is associated with a higher risk of atrial fibrillation in middle-aged men, so a runner with a large training history has a baseline the high-dose omega-3 signal adds to, and keeps to the standard rung without a cardiologist. PubMed record
2. Meta-analyses of cardiovascular outcome trials of marine omega-3: a dose-related increase in the risk of atrial fibrillation, most evident at doses of four grams a day and small or absent below one gram, a finding that sets the honest ceiling of high-dose omega-3 for a healthy adult. PubMed record
3. The gastric emptying literature: fat slows gastric emptying more than carbohydrate or protein, so a fatty meal or an oil taken shortly before exercise leaves more in the stomach during the session and is the usual advice to avoid before training. PubMed record
4. Reviews of omega-3 supplementation and exercise performance: no consistent improvement in strength, power, endurance or performance tests in trained adults, with the more consistent findings being modest reductions in perceived soreness and inflammatory markers at gram-and-above doses over weeks. PubMed record

Related answers

• Is omega-3-acid ethyl esters good for you?
• Is Holland and Barrett omega-3 good quality?
• Is omega-3 good for gym?
• Is omega-3 good for muscles?
• Is omega-3 good for gym goers?
• Is omega-3 good for working out?