If you take fish oil pills on a regular basis, a new study suggests your risk of having a stroke or developing a heart condition may be much higher than those who don’t take the supplement.
The study, published by the journal BMJ Medicine, took 12 years to complete and monitored over 400,000 patients in the U.K. between the ages of 40 and 69.
The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are known to combat cardiovascular disease.
According to the study, fish oil is helpful to those who already have cardiovascular problems, but for those who do not, taking fish oil actually increases the risks of developing a heart condition.
People without a known heart condition who took fish oil were found to have a 13% greater chance of developing atrial fibrillation and a 5% higher risk of having a stroke.
Patients who already had heart disease though saw a 15% lower risk of atrial fibrillation after taking fish oil.
The study comes with the caveat from the authors that more research is considered necessary because the good and bad effects of fish oil were not the same across the board for all participants.