Aspirin May Boost Omega-3 Effectiveness

While some studies suggest that you should take six or more omega-3 pills per day, plain old aspirin may cut that requirement in half:

... this suggests that you may have to take a half dozen or more typical omega-3 pills a day to get the kind of benefits observed in clinical trials with fish oil. ... Studies over the past few years suggest that taking small doses of aspirin daily, which many people do to prevent heart attacks, magnifies the anti-inflammatory effect of taking fish oil.

Indeed, some of the most dramatic evidence of fish oil's heart benefits came from a 1999 Italian study in which patients who had recently had heart attacks showed a 45% reduction in subsequent "sudden cardiac death" when given modest fish-oil doses (the amount in about three typical omega-3 capsules). The supplements' striking effectiveness may well have been magnified by the fact that many of the patients were also taking aspirin daily.

David Stipp in the Wall Street Journal article "Fish-Oil Doses Can Be Hard To Swallow"

There's ample support for the benefits of omega-3. A 2005 National Institutes of Health review of research concluded that "consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, fish, and fish oil reduces all-cause mortality and various CVD (cardiovascular disease) outcomes such as sudden death, cardiac death, and myocardial infarction. ... omega-3 fatty acids affect cellular functions involved in ensuring a normal heart rate and coronary blood flow." In the WSJ article, Stipp writes that "Many scientists believe omega-3's benefits flow primarily from its ability to damp low-level inflammation, which is thought to be a key culprit in just about every major scourge of aging, from clogged arteries to Alzheimer's."

While combining omega-3s with aspirin sounds like an easy way to increase their impact, be careful. The Mayo Clinic warns that aspirin therapy is not for everyone. The University of Maryland Medical Center concurs, and has an extensive list of possible Omega-3 risks (as well as benefits). Talk to your doctor!