Research
Hormonal
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.
If you are older or dealing with muscle loss, fish oil might help maintain or build muscle mass when combined with training. If you are a young, trained athlete, fish oil is unlikely to boost your muscle growth or protein synthesis beyond what your training already does.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
EPA and DHA have positive effects on muscle function, especially for neuromuscular adaptation... EPA and DHA may have positive effects on muscle mass under wasting condition, but it is unclear with regard to training... 3.5 g/day of EPA and 0.9 g/day of DHA for eight weeks supplementation did not change myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis... in trained 20 men
Why this rating
Consistent positive effects in elderly/wasting models, but inconsistent/negative in trained young models.
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 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.Limited
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