Should I stop taking fish oil?

The four reasons that are reasons, because a habit should end when its reason ends or a doctor says so

Should I stop taking fish oil is answered by sorting the reasons a reader might have into the ones that are reasons and the ones that are not, because most people who ask are on the second list and a few are on the first. The reasons that are reasons. Oily fish has entered the plate: the softgel exists to fill the gap a low-fish diet leaves, so a reader who now eats salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring twice a week has the 250mg heart claim met on the plate and the omega-3 index built by food, and the oily-fish audit, rerun at every reorder, says the softgel can go, the cleanest reason to stop and the one the long-term pages expect at some yearly review. A cardiologist has said stop: a reader who developed atrial fibrillation on a high-dose habit and has been told to stop by the cardiologist who knows the outcome trials' dose-related signal stops, the standard rung included if the cardiologist says so, a doctor's instruction outranking any page. Surgery is coming: the surgical team, told of a gram-and-above habit, asks for a pause a week or two before for the antiplatelet effect's sake, and the reader pauses and restarts after on their advice, a standard softgel usually being left alone. A prescription omega-3 has been started: the omega-3-acid ethyl ester capsules or purified EPA for raised triglycerides are the dose, and the shelf softgel would add to it toward the ceiling and the rhythm signal, so the shelf stops when the prescription starts. Four reasons, two of which are a doctor's and one of which is a pause, and the one most readers will eventually meet being the plate.

The four reasons that are not reasons, each with the fix that replaces stopping, what stopping does, and the reasons filed

The reasons that are not reasons, each with the fix that replaces stopping. Burps: a fasted softgel that repeats is the commonest reason people stop and the easiest to fix, the softgel moved to the middle of a meal with an upright hour after stopping the burps for most on the first day, with a frozen or smaller softgel, a split dose and an enteric coat as the next rungs, so a burping reader fixes the timing rather than the habit. A rancid tub: a tub that tastes of paint, burps all day and has lived in a warm kitchen is replaced, not the habit ended, since the oil was the problem and not the omega-3. Feeling nothing: the commonest reason of all and the least valid, a maintenance fat that builds into membranes over months producing no feeling at any point, so that a reader who stops because they feel nothing has stopped for the same reason they would have stopped a seatbelt, the judgement belonging to the oily-fish audit and an index test at four months rather than to a sensation, the how-to-know page's tests. A forum's scare: a thread about fish oil and prostate cancer, atrial fibrillation or blood thinning is answered by the files, the prostate association unconfirmed by later meta-analyses, the atrial fibrillation signal real at two to four grams a day and small or absent at a standard softgel, and the antiplatelet effect a prescriber's conversation at high doses, so a reader on a standard softgel who stops on a scare has stopped for a dose they were not taking. What stopping does, for a reader with a reason: nothing acute, no withdrawal, rebound or crash, the plasma falling in days unnoticed, the two- and three-gram outcomes drifting back over weeks in those who had them, and the index falling to the diet's level over three to four months, the stopping mirror, so a reader who stops for a plate now full of fish loses nothing and a reader who stops for a reason that was not a reason simply returns to a low status they could have kept out of for 17p. The reasons filed: the plate, a cardiologist, a surgical pause and a prescription as reasons, burps, a rancid tub, feeling nothing and a forum as fixes rather than stops, and stopping itself being harmless and slow, with the worked example being the softgel that stops when the plate says so and not before, one at 17p, £14.99 for 90.

The verdict, four reasons to stop, four fixes instead of stopping, and a stop that costs nothing either way

Should I stop taking fish oil: yes if the reason is one of four, oily fish now on the plate twice a week so that the audit says the softgel can go, a cardiologist's stop after atrial fibrillation on a high-dose habit, a surgical pause on the team's advice, or a prescription omega-3 that the shelf softgel would double, and no if the reason is one of the other four, burps fixed by a mid-meal softgel, a rancid tub fixed by a fresh one, feeling nothing which is what a maintenance fat feels like, or a forum's scare answered by the outcome trials' file, with stopping itself producing no withdrawal and the index falling back to the diet's level over months. The softgel that stops when the plate says so: Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil, one with food, 180mg EPA and 120mg DHA, 90 for £14.99 at 17p a day.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

When should you stop taking fish oil?

When its reason ends or a doctor says so: when oily fish has entered the plate twice a week and the audit says the softgel can go, when a cardiologist has said stop after atrial fibrillation on a high-dose habit, when a surgical team asks for a pause before an operation, or when a prescription omega-3 has been started and the shelf softgel would double it.

Should I stop fish oil if it makes me burp?

No, fix the timing: a fasted softgel repeats and a softgel taken in the middle of a meal with an upright hour after stops burping for most people on the first day, with a frozen or smaller softgel, a split dose and an enteric coat as the next rungs, and a paint taste meaning a rancid tub to replace.

Should I stop fish oil because I don't feel anything?

No: a maintenance fat that builds into membranes over months produces no feeling at any point, so feeling nothing is what working feels like, and the judgement belongs to the oily-fish audit and an omega-3 index test at four months rather than to a sensation.

What happens if I stop taking fish oil?

Nothing acute: no withdrawal, rebound or crash, the plasma level falling in days unnoticed, the triglyceride and blood pressure outcomes drifting back over weeks in readers who took the high doses for them, and the omega-3 index falling to the diet's level over three to four months.

Should I stop fish oil because of the atrial fibrillation news?

Only on a cardiologist's say and only if the dose is high: the outcome trials' signal is dose-related, most evident at four grams a day and small or absent below a gram, so a reader on a standard softgel who stops on the news has stopped for a dose they were not taking, and a reader on a high-dose habit discusses it with a cardiologist.

Sources

1. Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and Committee on Toxicity. Advice on fish consumption: benefits and risks (two portions of fish a week, one oily). TSO, 2004. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-advice-on-fish-consumption-benefits-and-risks
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 omega-3 index kinetics literature: red-cell EPA and DHA rise over three to four months of daily intake and fall over a similar period after stopping, the index changing on a clock of months rather than days, with no acute effect of a single dose. PubMed record
4. The reflux and posture literature: lying flat within an hour or two of eating, and of taking an oil, increases reflux because the stomach's contents sit against the oesophageal junction, so a fish oil softgel taken at the pillow refluxes more than the same softgel taken with an upright meal. PubMed record

Related answers

• What are the side effects of when you stop taking fish oil?
• How can I stop burping after taking fish oil?
• Why would my cardiologist tell me to stop taking fish oil?
• Is fish oil worth taking for a natural bodybuilder?
• How to stop fish oil burps?
• What should you look for in fishy burps after taking fish oil?