Research
Micronutrients & recovery
EPA and DHA supplementation inhibits the elevation of inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-α) and muscle damage markers (CK, Mb) following eccentric exercise, though results for CK/Mb are inconsistent.
Fish oil may help lower inflammation after hard exercise, but it does not reliably reduce the blood markers of muscle damage (like CK) in all cases. Focus on the functional benefits (less soreness, better strength retention) rather than blood tests.
LimitedQualifiesLOW confidence
EPA and DHA supplement inhibit elevated tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)... EPA and DHA for 30 days have a effective role to reduce the CK and Mb after bench stepping... there were no changes in CK rises following knee bending exercise
Why this rating
High variability in CK/Mb results across studies reduces the reliability of this specific claim.
Source
Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Docosahexaneoic Acid (DHA) in Muscle Damage and Function
Eisuke Ochi et al. · Nutrients · 2018
DOI 10.3390/nu10050552
narrative_reviewCited 90×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Supplementation with both EPA and DHA (approx. 2:1 ratio) for 8 weeks inhibits muscle strength deficit and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) following eccentric exercise in untrained individuals.Moderate
- EPA and DHA supplementation improves muscle function (strength, torque, EMG) and may increase muscle mass in elderly or wasting conditions, but has unclear effects on muscle protein synthesis in trained young adults.Moderate
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