For most people, regular fish oil supplements do not affect bleeding risk. One meta-analysis of 11 randomized studies with over 80,000 patients concluded (with low certainty) that fish oil does not increase bleeding risk,[1] and another meta-analysis, which stratified by type of fish oil supplement, reported similar findings. Interestingly, the latter meta-analysis noted that EPA-only supplements did increase bleeding risk compared to control, but the absolute increase in risk was very small: about 0.5%, suggesting that for every 200 people taking an EPA-only supplement, one might experience bleeding.[2]
References
- ^Asmaa S Abdelhamid, Tracey J Brown, Julii S Brainard, Priti Biswas, Gabrielle C Thorpe, Helen J Moore, Katherine Ho Deane, Carolyn D Summerbell, Helen V Worthington, Fujian Song, Lee HooperOmega-3 fatty acids for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseaseCochrane Database Syst Rev.(2020 Feb 29)
- ^Safi U Khan, Ahmad N Lone, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, Salim S Virani, Roger S Blumenthal, Khurram Nasir, Michael Miller, Erin D Michos, Christie M Ballantyne, William E Boden, Deepak L BhattEffect of omega-3 fatty acids on cardiovascular outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysisEClinicalMedicine.(2021 Jul 8)