Dyerberg and Sinclair have been credited with alerting the modern world to the benefits of fish- derived Omega-3 fatty acids. Through the 1970’s Dr Dyerberg and colleagues studied the Inuit culture in Greenland. The Inuit diet possessed many qualities which would lead an observer to predict a very high rate of heart disease; the diet was lacking fiber, fruit, and vegetables, and was very high in fat. Based on what was known of dietary influences on cardiovascular health it would have been appropriate to assume that the Inuit culture would suffer from very high rates of heart disease. Instead it was shown that this culture possessed one of the lowest rates of heart disease of any culture in the world!

The factor which Dr Dyerburg and colleagues to hypothesized was responsible for the observed rates of heart disease was fish- derived Omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).