Here’s the latest evidence for people who have embraced supplements of both vitamin D and fish oil as a path to better health. This enthusiasm followed studies which linked higher levels of vitamin D with lower rates of cancer and fish consumption with reduced rates of heart disease.
Now we have the results of a large and rigorous US government-funded randomized trial of omega-3 fish oils and the largest trial ever done of high-dose vitamin D. These are the gold standards of clinical trials— and they have found the supplements do not lower cancer rates in healthy adults. Nor do they reduce the rate of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular disease. The studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the author of an accompanying editorial concedes that the finding is disappointing considering the huge expectations for Vitamin D in recent years. The bottom line he said, was that in terms of preventing cancer and heart disease, the door is closed.