Fat-Reducing Benefits Cancel Each Other Out.

• Position: Fish oil supplements and exercise in reduction of blood fat levels - Brief Article

Independently, fish oil supplements and exercise reduce the amount of fat in the bloodstream, which ultimately improves cardiovascular health. So, one would expect to get a double benefit when combining the two treatments. However, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that is not so. Their study results show that not only does the beneficial effect not double, neither exercise nor fish oil has any effect on fat levels when coupled in treatment.

Doctors monitor high triglyceride--or fat--levels because they lead to high cholesterol, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. They commonly treat this condition in their patients with exercise and fish oil supplements.

"With exercise, you get an effect. With fish oil, you get an effect. But together you get no effect. The treatments counteract each other. It wasn't what we were expecting to see," notes Tom Thomas, professor of exercise...