{"id":31676,"date":"2012-09-11T21:51:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T01:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/?post_type=voices&p=31676"},"modified":"2012-09-12T10:43:38","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T14:43:38","slug":"advertising-that-falls-short-part-1-omega-3-fatty-acid-supplements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/2012\/09\/11\/advertising-that-falls-short-part-1-omega-3-fatty-acid-supplements\/","title":{"rendered":"Advertising That Falls Short \u2014 Part 1: Omega-3 Fatty-Acid Supplements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lately I\u2019ve been pondering the impact of advertisements on the public\u2019s knowledge, and I\u2019ve decided to start a series of posts about some that trouble me.<\/p>\n

This week JAMA<\/em> published a meta-analysis<\/a> showing a lack of evidence that omega-3 fatty-acid supplements reduce the risk for heart disease (confirming an Archives of Internal Medicine<\/em> meta-analysis from earlier this year<\/a>). The ad below, created by a company called RenewLife, appears in the October 2012 issue of Yoga<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

The ad\u2019s purported focus is to explain why omega-3 fatty acids are important to your heart health \u2014 specifically, according to the ad, that they help to maintain \u201chealthy cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure levels already in the normal range. Omega-3 helps maintain these key markers by supporting the body\u2019s normal inflammatory response, leading to optimal heart, blood vessel, and joint health.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s lacking in this message is that these supplements do not improve patient outcomes. The ad does refer to an American Heart Association\u00a0recommendation from 2003<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cFor patients with documented CHD, the AHA recommends \u22481 g of EPA and DHA (combined) per day\u201d \u2014 with an emphasis on dietary intake.<\/p>\n

However, outcomes trials of omega-3 supplements have, overall, failed to show a benefit in preventing heart disease. The possible reasons for that failure are many, and future research might identify an effective dose and formulation. But, for now, a lack of proven benefit is the state of the trial evidence \u2014 and that is the message that the public should hear.<\/p>\n

What is our role as clinicians in putting ads like this in context for patients?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the role of a clinician in putting misleading ads in context for patients?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1446,1445,1214],"class_list":["post-31676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prevention","tag-advertising","tag-dietary-supplements","tag-omega-3-fatty-acids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}