Research
Energy balance
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA), specifically EPA and DHA, can reduce body fat mass and abdominal adiposity, but may not significantly reduce total body weight in overweight or obese individuals when used as a supplement alone.
Omega-3 supplements (EPA/DHA) may help reduce body fat, especially abdominal fat, but are unlikely to cause significant total weight loss on their own. They are most effective when combined with calorie restriction and exercise.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
these limited evidences suggest that n-3 PUFA supplementation alone may attenuate the body fat deposition without any change in body weight.
Why this rating
Mixed results in meta-analyses and prospective studies; some show fat loss, others show no weight change.
Source
A review on differential effects of dietary fatty acids on weight, appetite and energy expenditure
Vahideh Behrouz et al. · Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition · 2020
DOI 10.1080/10408398.2020.1852172
narrative_reviewCited 41×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Saturated fatty acids (SFA) promote greater long-term weight gain compared to unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA/PUFA) primarily due to lower diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) and reduced energy expenditure, despite potentially stimulating appetite-regulating hormones like CCK and PYY more strongly.Good
- Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) stimulate higher diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) and energy expenditure compared to Saturated fatty acids (SFA), which may aid in long-term weight maintenance despite having weaker effects on acute appetite suppression.Good
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