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A large trial has found that supplements of omega-3 fatty acid do nothing to prevent cardiovascular problems or death in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes greatly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular ailments. Researchers randomized 12,536 people with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes to receive either a placebo or a daily dose of at least 900 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acid.

After an average follow-up of more than six years, they found that the omega-3 and placebo groups showed no difference in rates of heart attack or stroke, or in number of deaths from cardiovascular disease or arrhythmia. Rates of hospitalization for heart failure or other cardiovascular problems were nearly identical.

“Information like this highlights the importance of doing large trials,” said the leader of the project, Dr. Hertzel C. Gerstein, a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Dr. Gerstein was definitive about the value of omega-3 supplements for people with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes. “If you think a capsule of omega-3 fatty acids a day is going to affect your risk,” he said, “you’re wrong, and there’s no reason to take it.”

The study was published online last week in The New England Journal of Medicine.