Research Review: Omega-3 supplementation to reduce antisocial behavior - a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Raine A, Saven HQ
Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 0 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Meta-analysis (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Government
- NICHD NIH HHS
- Grants
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD087485)
Based on 2 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2026-04-14 · J Child Psychol Psychiatry · vol. 67 · issue 9 · pp. 1601–1613
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Cited
- 1 citation · more than 88% of similar papers · 2.8× the field average
- References
- 65 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Fatty Acid Research and Health · Alcoholism and Thiamine Deficiency · Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- Randomized controlled trial, Intervention (counseling), Sample size determination, Poison control, Injury prevention, Meta-analysis, Conduct disorder
- MeSH
- humans, fatty acids, omega-3, antisocial personality disorder, dietary supplements, randomized controlled trials as topic, outcome assessment, health care
2 authors
From US
- Adrian Raine · correspondingUniversity of Pennsylvania
- Helena Q. SavenUniversity of Pennsylvania
Abstract
Background
Omega-3, a long-chain fatty acid critical for brain structure and function, has been argued to be effective in reducing antisocial behavior, but findings are variable. This meta-analysis examines 25 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 2,889 participants.
Methods
This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021256959). Two separate analyses were conducted where the unit of analysis was independent studies and independent laboratories.
Results
Significant effect sizes (p < .001) were observed for both analyses (g = .13, .14 respectively) and in the direction of omega-3 supplementation reducing antisocial behavior. There was equivocal evidence of publication bias. Study quality was good. Stratified analyses were nonsignificant for age, gender, dose, sample size, and study quality, although the effect size was larger for unmedicated participants. Combining these data with a recent meta-analysis on aggressive behavior produced an overall effect size of g = .22 for externalizing behavior based on 36 nonoverlapping RCTs.
Conclusions
Given that omega-3 supplementation is relatively cheap, easy to implement, transfers well from the research environment to community settings, and has additional health benefits, it is suggested that it may be considered as an adjunctive intervention for the treatment of antisocial and externalizing behavior.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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