for decades doctors have been searching for a surefire way to prevent atrial fibrillation an abnormal heart rhythm that can prove fatal now a new highquality study has ruled out two possible contenders vitamin d and fish oil supplements the trial called vitalrhythm took center stage at a recent virtual conference of the american heart association aha the nations largest professional organization of doctors who focus on the heart and cardiovascular system atrial fibrillation is a very common condition and is hard to treat said dr christine albert the studys lead author and chair of the department of cardiology in the smidt heart institute at cedarssinai there are an estimated 33 million people in the world with atrial fibrillation atrial fibrillation is not benign she explained if left untreated it can lead to serious health consequences such as stroke heart attacks heart failure dementia and even death although early less reliable studies hinted that vitamin d and fish oil might help doctors said this new study shows they dont make a difference doctors said its a relief to see highquality evidence like this because it means they can focus on new research frontiers and avoid prescribing unnecessary pills to their patients prior studies identified a possible link between these supplements and atrial fibrillation rates but it wasnt clear if these differences were caused by the supplements themselves or by some other unexplained factor such as lifestyle choices more vitamin d deficiency unlikely to fully explain covid19s effect on people of color albert and her research team embarked on a massive study comprised of 25000 volunteers who would be randomly selected to receive vitamin d fish oil or a placebo pill dr erin michos the director of womens cardiovascular health and the associate director of preventive cardiology at the ciccarone center for the prevention of cardiovascular disease at johns hopkins university medical center said the study received praise at this years american heart association conference because it was a highquality study that included diverse volunteers this means that the findings are applicable regardless of race and gender they studied vitamin d at 2000 iu per day compared to placebo while simultaneously studying 840 milligrams a day of marine omega3s vs placebo this was a randomized clinical trial and blinded so participants did not know whether they were taking a supplement or placebo michos said historically large trials have been victim to underrepresentation and lack of diversity making it difficult for clinicians to apply these trials to their true patient population this study meanwhile represented a larger population of african americans and women an undated stock photo of fish oil supplements stockgetty images michos said that the importance of having a strong representation of african americans in this trial was critical many have a lower blood levels of vitamin d as a result of darker skin pigmentation which leads to poor absorption of uvb light which is necessary to create active vitamin d and utilize its benefits i actually applaud the study