Why do gym goers take fish oil?

The reasons gym goers give, in the order they give them, the first three graded

Why do gym goers take fish oil is a question best answered by the reasons gym goers give, in roughly the order a gym would give them if asked, because the popular reasons and the true reason are different lists and the page's job is to grade the first and name the second. Joints come first, in most gyms by a distance: a lifter with a knee that aches in the squat, a shoulder that clicks in the press or an elbow that complains at the bench takes fish oil for the joints, and the joint file for omega-3 has one entry, inflammatory arthritis, rheumatoid disease and its relatives, at two to three grams a day for months alongside a rheumatologist's treatment, the joint literature's grading, with nothing for a loaded, worn or overused joint in a lifter, the osteoarthritis trials being null and the loaded-joint question belonging to load management, technique and a physiotherapist, so the commonest reason has the emptiest file. Recovery comes second: a lifter takes fish oil to recover faster between sessions, and the file is a footnote, the review of omega-3 and exercise-induced soreness finding perceived soreness a point or so lower on a ten-point scale at two to three grams a day taken for weeks or months before a damaging session, with no faster return of strength or function, a curve shifted down rather than left, so recovery in the sense of how soon is unchanged and recovery in the sense of how sore is a little better at the higher rungs, a footnote rather than a reason. Muscle comes third: a lifter takes fish oil because the forum said it builds muscle, from a 2011 laboratory trial of synthesis at four grams that measured no size, and the trials that added omega-3 to resistance training in trained adults and did measure size found no consistent gain in size or strength, the reviews settling the shape as possible protection in older adults and nothing in the trained, and no register claim mentioning muscle, so the third reason is null.

The last two reasons graded, the true reason gym goers rarely give, and the survey filed

General health comes fourth, and it is the vaguest reason and the closest to a true one: a lifter who says they take fish oil for general health is naming, without knowing it, the register's authorised claims, EPA and DHA contribute to the normal function of the heart at 250mg a day and DHA contributes to the maintenance of normal brain function and normal vision at 250mg of DHA, which are real, defined and met by a standard softgel or two, and which are what general health means once the vagueness is removed, so the fourth reason is a good reason badly named. The heart comes fifth, and it is right and wrong at once: right that the heart is the register's first omega-3 claim, a nutrition claim for the normal function of a well person's heart at 250mg a day, and wrong if the lifter means protection, since the outcome trials at a gram a day found no reduction in heart attacks or strokes and the guideline says do not offer omega-3 for prevention, the cardiologists pages' four things, so the fifth reason is a claim met and a hope unmet. The true reason gym goers rarely give is the plate: a gym goer's diet of chicken breast, rice, egg whites, white fish and a shake is the plate most likely in the country to carry almost no EPA and DHA, cod and tilapia carrying a few tens of milligrams a portion against a salmon fillet's two grams, the lean-fish composition data's gap, so the 250mg heart claim is unmet on that plate every day it is eaten, and one standard softgel meets it at 17p, which is the reason a softgel earns its place on a gym goer's shelf and the reason almost no gym goer says, since it sounds like a nutrition audit rather than a gains supplement. The survey filed: joints as the commonest reason with the emptiest file, recovery as a soreness footnote at grams, muscle as null in the trained, general health as a vague name for the real 250mg claims, the heart as a nutrition claim met and a protection hope unmet, and the plate as the true reason rarely given, with the worked example being the softgel for that reason, £14.99 for 90 at 17p.

The verdict, five popular reasons that are mostly wrong and a true one that is a nutrition audit

Why do gym goers take fish oil: for the reasons they give in the order they give them, joints, which is the commonest and has the emptiest file, one entry for inflammatory arthritis at grams for months and nothing for a loaded knee or shoulder, recovery, which is a soreness footnote a point or so lower at two to three grams over months with no faster return of strength, muscle, which is null in the trials in trained adults with no claim, general health, which is a vague name for the register's real heart, brain and vision claims at 250mg, and the heart, which is a nutrition claim for normal function met by a softgel and a protection hope the outcome trials do not meet, while the true reason gym goers rarely give is the plate, a chicken-and-white-fish diet that leaves the 250mg heart claim unmet and that one softgel meets at 17p. The softgel for the reason rarely given: 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

What is the most common reason gym goers take fish oil?

Joints, in most gyms by a distance, and it is the reason with the emptiest file: the one omega-3 joint entry is inflammatory arthritis at two to three grams a day for months alongside a rheumatologist's treatment, with nothing for a loaded, worn or overused joint, the osteoarthritis trials being null and a loaded joint belonging to a physiotherapist.

Do gym goers actually need fish oil?

Most do, for a reason they rarely give: a gym diet of chicken, rice, egg whites, white fish and a shake carries almost no EPA and DHA, cod and tilapia holding a few tens of milligrams a portion, so the register's 250mg heart claim is unmet on that plate and one standard softgel meets it at 17p, while a gym goer eating oily fish twice a week needs none.

Is fish oil good for recovery after the gym?

As a footnote: perceived soreness a point or so lower on a ten-point scale at two to three grams a day taken for weeks or months before a damaging session, with no faster return of strength or function, so how sore improves a little at the higher rungs and how soon does not change.

Does fish oil help gym goers build muscle?

No: the trials that added omega-3 to resistance training in trained adults found no consistent gain in size or strength, the 2011 synthesis trial the forums quote having measured a mechanism in a laboratory and no size, and no register claim mentioning muscle for omega-3, the muscle sentences belonging to protein and the performance sentence to creatine.

What does fish oil do for general health in a gym goer?

It meets the register's claims that general health vaguely names: EPA and DHA contribute to the normal function of the heart at 250mg a day, and DHA contributes to the maintenance of normal brain function and normal vision at 250mg of DHA, real and defined claims met by one or two standard softgels on a plate low in oily fish.

Sources

1. The food composition data for fish: white and lean fish, cod, haddock, tilapia, pollock and canned light tuna, carry a few tens to a couple of hundred milligrams of EPA and DHA a portion, against around one and a half to two grams in salmon, mackerel, sardines and herring, so a diet of lean fish does not supply the omega-3 that oily fish does. PubMed record
2. Review evidence on omega-3 supplementation and exercise-induced muscle damage and soreness: small positive findings mainly in untrained participants, mixed-to-null results in trained populations. PubMed record
3. McGlory C, Calder PC, Nunes EA. The influence of omega-3 fatty acids on skeletal muscle protein turnover in health, disuse, and disease. Frontiers in Nutrition 2019;6:144. PubMed record
4. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products. Scientific opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to EPA and DHA and normal function of the heart (250mg daily condition of use). EFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1796. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1796

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