Thursday July 11, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in Preventive Cardiology suggests that taking fihs oil supplements may help reduce the risk for hypertension or normalize blood pressure.

Fiona Campbell, ScHARR, University of Sheffield in Sheffield, UK and colleagues review previous studies and found sufficient evidence to suggest that fish oil provides a protective effect against hypertension.

The researchers analyzed data from 17 studied of 1524 participants who were either normotensive or hypertensive with  BP 140/85 mmHg at least and took fish oil supplements.

Data from eight studies show that taking fish oil, participants with hypertension significantly lowered their systolic and diastolic blood pressure (2.56 mmHg and 1.47 mmHg, respectively).

Data from nine studies of participants without high blood pressure also show that the apparently healthy subjects lowered their systolic and diastolic blood pressure even though the reduction was not as significant as that found among individuals with hypertension.

The anti-hypertensive effect was not dose-dependent.

The researchers concluded "The small but statistically significant effects of fish-oil supplements in hypertensive participants in this review have important implications for population health and lowering the risk of stroke and ischaemic heart disease."

Still, the authors suggest that fish oil cannot be used as a hypertension treatment to replace hypertension medications. (reporting by Jimmy Downs)