Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Tendon Strength
Omega-3s have anti-inflammatory rationale with weak tendon-specific evidence.
Overview
Verdict
How It Works
Dosing & Protocol
Typical dose
- Recommended dose
- 1-2g EPA+DHA daily
- Expected timeframe
- 12 weeks
Protocol
- form
- Fish oil or algal oil
- duration
- Tendon collagen turnover is measured in months to years
- co factor
- Evidence is insufficient. No randomised controlled trial has shown that omega-3 supplementation increases tendon strength, stiffness or cross-sectional area, or reduces tendon injury rates, in humans. The available material is animal work showing altered collagen synthesis and reduced tendon inflammation, small human studies of inflammatory markers, and mechanistic speculation. There is also a countervailing consideration: some animal and cell studies suggest omega-3 may reduce tendon collagen cross-linking and stiffness, which would be undesirable for load tolerance. Human tendinopathy is predominantly a failed healing response to load rather than a classical inflammatory condition, which limits the rationale for an anti-inflammatory approach.
- titration
- Not applicable - no dose has been shown to increase tendon strength
- starting dose
- Not established for this outcome. Musculoskeletal trials used 2,000-4,000 mg/day EPA+DHA
Evidence
What the studies say
Fish-oil dietary supplementation in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon: a double-blind, controlled, prospective study
DiGiacomo RA
Fish oil improves tolerance to cold exposure and delays the onset of vasospasm in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon.
Safety
Caveats
Some evidence suggests high doses may blunt loading adaptations.
Less likely to help if
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