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Because it is human nature to struggle with undereating for weeks or months at a time, most of the truly effective weight-loss products that achieved commercial success induced weight loss by suppressing the appetite. Other products that have had more limited success in clinical studies block the absorption of food calories, such as the fat-blocking drug Alli. The truly impressive weight-loss aids are the ones that work in people who do follow a diet and promote long-term compliance. After all, a person wants the best results from his efforts and wants to stick with a diet rather than have his weight yo-yo up and down.
 Even though all the groups in the study demonstrated weight-loss benefits from dieting, clear distinctions were noted among the groups. The control group, men not receiving fish or fish oil, lost a little over 11 pounds on average, an admirable amount. However, when fish or fish oil was included in the diet, weight loss increased by 2 to 3 pounds during the eight-week study. Not only was a greater amount of weight lost, the weight appeared to come from the abdominal region, as waist circumference (waistline) was reduced by an additional inch. Control dieters dropped just under 2 inches off their waist; the fish group increased that by another inch, losing nearly 3 inches in just eight weeks.
These results represent about the best that can be expected with drug-free dieting. A 600-calorie deficit/day diet would be expected to result in a weight loss of approximately 10 pounds in eight weeks. The control group did slightly better, losing 11 1/2 pounds. The fish groups all did much better, losing 4 to 5 pounds more than expected.
In trying to understand why the simple inclusion of fish into the diet made such a difference, the researchers looked at what the fish diets added and reviewed the existing literature. No previous study had looked specifically at the effect of including fish in a diet on weight loss, though some had looked at the effect of adding fish oil. In agreement with earlier studies, including fish oil in the diet appears to accelerate weight loss in man.4 Fish oil is high in n-3 (also called omega-3) fatty acids, specifically EPA and DHA. Omega-3 fatty acids appear to increase the creation of mitochondria in fat cells, which is where fats (specifically fatty acids) are burned to create cellular energy and body heat.5 Additionally, omega-3 fatty acids increase the rate of fat burning.4,6,7 Similar effects are seen when fat cells are stimulated by beta-adrenergic drugs (like the effect seen with ephedrine/caffeine or clenbuterol), suggesting that fish oil consumption may make the fat cell more sensitive to the effect of drugs that act through the same pathway as ephedrine/caffeine.8 Interestingly, omega-3 fatty acids may also block the formation of new fat cells, which would be important for long-term weight management.9
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Research and Review 
