Omega-3 supplements may make you less aggressive: study

Take a chill pill — literally. 

A new study from the University of Pennsylvania found that taking an omega-3 supplement can reduce aggressive behavior. Omega-3 supplements typically come in the form of fish oil pills. 

The study, published in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior, found that among the 3,918 participants, taking an omega-3 supplement was associated with an average of 22% percent reduction in aggressive behavior.

“I think the time has come to implement omega-3 supplementation to reduce aggression, irrespective of whether the setting is the community, the clinic or the criminal justice system,” study co-author Adrian Raine said in a statement.

“Omega-3 is not a magic bullet that is going to completely solve the problem of violence in society. But can it help? Based on these findings, we firmly believe it can, and we should start to act on the new knowledge we have,” Raine added.

Raine and Lia Brodrick studied 29 randomized controlled trials to see how the supplement would impact behavior among different ages, genders and treatment durations. 

The authors noted that few of the studies followed up with the participants upon concluding the research, so they can only hypothesize about the short-term impact of supplementation. 

“The next step will be to evaluate whether omega-3 can reduce aggression in the long-term,” the authors wrote.

Fish oil supplements have purported health benefits which include support for brain and heart health, although a recent study found that fish oil might increase the risk of having heart disease or a stroke for the first time.