I’m not going to weigh on this too heavily since I don’t really know the evidence too well, but @gailcalled‘s evidence is actually better then yours, @Tropical_Willie. It relies on a number of good meta-studies, which means studies that take into account large numbers of previous studies. In particular, the evidence in relation to cardiovascular disease and heart attack, it relies on two works published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, while WebMD’s sources are all at least five or six years old, and not as comprehensive. The AMA statement used by WebMD is over a decade old.
Which is not to say it’s wrong. It’s obviously a contentious subject and more studies seem warranted. But dismissing evidence as ‘just wikipedia’ is not really valid, any more then saying ‘it’s wiki, so it must be true’.
So, i guess after I’ve looked over things briefly, I’d say the evidence for eating omega-3 heavy fish is pretty solid, and supplements probably won’t hurt at least (as long as you stay to recommended doses, naturally).
If you’re wondering, the specifics results of those two were:
”Omega-3 supplementation was not significantly associated with all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, MI, or stroke. The observed effect was not associated with study-specific or population-specific characteristics, and the majority of the large studies in the field agree with the results of our work.”
And
”Our meta-analysis showed insufficient evidence of a secondary preventive effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplements against overall cardiovascular events. Likewise, we found no beneficial effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplements on other cardiovascular events, such as sudden cardiac death, myocardial infarction (fatal or nonfatal), angina and unstable angina, congestive heart failure, and transient ischemic attack and stroke, or on all-cause mortality.”