2026-04-28 10:19:54
Fish oil supplements hailed as brain boosters could actually damage memory in some cases.
New research has sparked warnings from scientists that they may not be as universally beneficial as many believe, especially for people recovering from brain injuries.
Experts at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) found the supplements could interfere with how the brain repairs itself after trauma.
Lead researcher Onder Albayram said: “Fish oil supplements are everywhere, and people take them for a range of reasons, often without a clear understanding of their long-term effects.
“But in terms of neuroscience, we still don’t know whether the brain has resilience or resistance to this supplement.”
In lab tests on mice, long-term fish oil use appeared to slow recovery after repeated mild head injuries.
The animals showed worsening memory and struggled with navigation tasks like completing mazes.
Scientists linked this to a build-up of eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, a key omega-3 found in fish oil, which may disrupt the brain’s repair processes.
Onder said: “In a sensitive brain state modelled in mice, long-term fish oil supplementation revealed a delayed vulnerability.
“The animals showed poorer neurological and spatial learning performance over time, together with clear evidence of vascular-associated tau accumulation in the cortex, linking impaired recovery to neurovascular dysfunction and perivascular tau pathology.”
Further experiments on human brain cells suggested EPA reduced the ability of blood vessels in the brain to repair themselves, while another omega-3, DHA, appeared to have more positive effects.
The team also analysed post-mortem brain tissue from people with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and found signs of disrupted fat balance linked to brain damage.
Despite the findings, researchers stress the supplements are not inherently dangerous.
Onder added: “I am not saying fish oil is good or bad in some universal way.
“What our data highlight is that biology is context-dependent.”
Experts stressed that more research is needed.
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